Roman Catholic Diocese of Linz

Diocese of Linz Dioecesis Linciensis Diözese Linz
Roman Catholic
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	January 28, 1785
Cathedral	Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
Patron saint	Saint Florian Severinus of Noricum
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Manfred Scheuer
Metropolitan Archbishop	Christoph Schönborn
Bishops emeritus	Maximilian Aichern Ludwig Schwarz
Map
Website
Website of the Diocese

The Diocese of Linz (

Early history

In the early

The next bishop, Joseph Anton Gall (1788–1807), was a political ally of Joseph II and of josephinism. The third Bishop of Linz, Sigismund Ernst Hohenwart had been a cathedral canon of Gurk and Vicar-General of Klagenfurt. His successor was the Benedictine Gregorius Thomas Ziegler (1827–52), formerly Bishop of Tarnov.

Revolution of 1848

The Revolution of 1848 not only increased political liberty, but also gave to the Church greater independence in its own province.

The session of the Third

His successor, Ernst Maria Müller, had only a short episcopate (1885-8). In the next bishop, Franz Maria Doppelbauer (1889–1908), the diocese received a truly apostolic head, whose influence extended far beyond his own sphere of work. The present bishop is Manfred Scheuer.

Churches

The Gothic cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, built from the plans of the Cologne architect, Vincenz Statz, was begun in 1862 and consecrated in 1905; the tower, 443 feet (135 m) high, was finished in 1902. The Old Cathedral, originally the church of the Jesuits, was built in the Baroque style between 1669 and 1682. There are several old collegiate churches (St. Florian, Kremsmünster, Mondsee, Lambach, Garsten, Reichersberg, Wilhering, etc.), originally built in the Romanesque period and nearly all rebuilt in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the Baroque style.

The most important churches in the Baroque style of architecture are the collegiate churches of St. Florian (1636–1745), and of Baumgartenberg (rebuilt 1684–1718). The most important buildings of the Gothic period are the parish church at Steyr (begun in 1443), with a tower 263 feet (80 m) high, and the church of the hospital at Braunau on the Inn (1439–92), with a tower 300 feet high. A work of sculpture celebrated in the history of art is the high altar at St. Wolfgang carved by Michael Pacher in 1481.

Bishops

Ordinaries

• Ernest Johann Nepomuk (1783–1788)
• Joseph Anton Gall (1789–1807)
• Sigismund Ernst Hohenwart (1809–1825)
• Gregorius Thomas Ziegler (1827–1852)
• Franz-Josef Rudigier (1853–1884)
• Ernest Maria Müller (1885–1888)
• Franz Maria Doppelbauer (1889–1908)
• Rudolph Hittmair (1909–1915)
• Johannes Maria Gföllner (1915–1941)
• Josephus Calasanz Fließer (1946–1955)
• Franz Salesius Zauner (1956–1980)
• Maximilian Aichern (1981–2005)
• Ludwig Schwarz (2005–2015)
• Manfred Scheuer (2015– )

Coadjutor bishop

• Franz Sales Zauner (1949-1956)

Auxiliary bishops

• Joseph Calasanz Fließer (Fliesser) (1941-1946), appointed Bishop here
• Alois Wagner (1969-1981), appointed Vice President of the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum”
• Gerhard Maria Wagner (2009); did not take effect

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops

• Michael Johann Wagner, appointed Bishop of Austria, Military in 1833
• Kurt Krenn, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Wien {Vienna} in 1987

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Linz". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

48°18′01″N 14°17′10″E / 48.3003°N 14.2860°E / 48.3003; 14.2860