The Archdiocese of Strasbourg (
Latin: Archidioecesis Argentoratensis o Argentinensis;
French: Archidiocèse de Strasbourg;
German: Erzbistum Straßburg;
Alsatian: Ärzbischofsìtz Strossburi(g)) is a
Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or
archdiocese of the
Catholic Church in France, first mentioned in 343 AD.
The Diocese of Strasbourg was first mentioned in 343, belonging to the
ecclesiastical province of the
Archbishopric of Mainz since
Carolingian times. Archeological diggings below the current
Saint Stephen's Church, Strasbourg (Saint-Étienne) in 1948 and 1956 have unearthed the
apse of a church dating back to the late 4th or early 5th century, considered the oldest church in Alsace. It is supposed that this was the first seat of the diocese.[1] The diocese may thus have been founded around 300.
Since the 15th century, the diocesan seat has been the
Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Strasbourg. By the
Concordat of 1801, the Diocese of Strasbourg became a public-law corporation of cult (French: établissement public du culte) and the diocesan ambit of Strasbourg was redrawn and all its areas east of the river
Rhine were redeployed, forming a part of the
Archdiocese of Freiburg since 1821. On 29 November 1801 it gained territory from the
Diocese of Basel (Switzerland),
Diocese of Metz and
Diocese of Speyer (Spiers, Germany). On 25 February 1803 it lost territory to the
Diocese of Konstanz, on 26 April 1808 it gained territory from the same and in 1815 lost territory to that Diocese of Konstanz.
In 1871 the bulk of the diocese became part of
German Empire, while small fringes remained with France. On 10 July 1874 Strasbourg diocese, with its diocesan ambit reconfined to the borders of then German Alsace, gaining territory from the
Diocese of Saint-Dié, and losing territory to the Metropolitan
Archdiocese of Besançon, and it became an
exempt diocese, immediately subject to the Holy See instead of part of any
ecclesiastical province. When the
1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State was enacted, doing away with public-law religious corporations, this did not apply to the Strasbourg diocese which was then within Germany.
After
World War I, Alsace along with the diocese was returned to France, but the status from the concordat has been preserved as part of the
Local law in Alsace-Moselle.
The diocese was elevated to Archdiocese of Strasbourg on 1 June 1988 by
Pope John Paul II but not as
metropolitan of an
ecclesiastical province and remains exempt. The bishop of this see is appointed by the
French president according to the Concordat of 1801. The concordat further provides for the clergy to be paid by the government and Catholic pupils in public schools can receive
religious instruction according to archdiocesan guidelines.
As per 2014, it pastorally served 1,380,000 Catholics (74.9% of 1,843,000 total) on 8,280 km² in 767 parishes and 5 missions with 722 priests (517 diocesan, 205 religious), 80 deacons, 1,332 lay religious (282 brothers, 1,050 sisters) and 17 seminarians .
As of[update] 31 December 2003, the area of the archdiocese comprised a total of 1,713,416 inhabitants of which 75.9% (1,300,000) are Catholics, divided in 762
parishes covering an area of 8,280 km². Also, 619 diocese priests, 50 deacons, 288 ordained priests and 1,728 nuns belonged to the archdiocese.
Otton de Hohenstaufen (Otto von Büren) (1085 – 1100.08.03)
Balduin (Baldovino, Baldwin) (1100–1100)
Cunon (Conrad) (1100–1123)
Bruno(n) (1123–1126)
Eberhard (1126–1127)
Bruno de Hohenberg (1129 – 1131.03.22)
Gebhard (1131–1141)
Burchard (1141 – 1162.07.10)
Rodolphe (Rudof) (1162–1179)
Father Conrad de Geroldseck (1179 – 1180.12.21)
Henri de Hasebourg (1181 – 1190.03.25)
Conrad de Hunebourg (1190 – 1202.11.03)
Henri de Veringen (1202 – 1223.03.11)
Berthold de Teck (1223–1244)
Henri de Stahleck (1245 – 1260.03.04)
Gautier de Geroldseck (1260 – 1263.02.12)
Henri de Geroldseck (1263–1273)
Father Conrad de Lichtenberg (1273 – 1299.08.01)
Frédéric de Lichtenberg (1299 – 1306.12.20)
Jean de Dirpheim (1306.02.18 – death 1328.11.06); previously Bishop of
Eichstätt (Germany) (1305.09.23 – 1306.02.18)
Berthold de Bucheck,
Teutonic Order (O.T.) (1328.11.28 – 1353.11.25); previously Bishop of
Speyer (Germany) (1328.05.07 – 1328.11.28)
Jean de Lichtenberg (1353 – 1365.09.14)
Jean de Luxembourg-Ligny (1366 – 1371.04.04)
Lamprecht von Brunn (1371.04.28 – 1374.04.20), previously Bishop of
Brixen (
South Tirol, now Italy) (1364.01.27 – 1364.02.14 not possessed), Bishop of
Speyer (Germany) (1364.02.14 – 1371.04.28); later Bishop of
Bamberg (Germany) (1374.04.28 – 1398)
Frederik van Blankenheim (Frédéric de Blankenheim) (1375.07.05 – 1393.07.07); next Bishop of
Basel (Switzerland) (1391.10.13 – 1393.07.07), Bishop of
Utrecht (Netherlands) (1393.07.07 – death 1423.10.10)
Father Ludovico di Thierstein (1393 not possessed)
Auxiliary Bishop: Adam Petz (1605.07.18 – death 1626.11.26), Titular Bishop of
Tripolis (1605.07.18 – 1626.11.26)
Leopold V, Archduke of Austria (Leopold Erzherzog von Österreich-Tyrol, Mr. Léopold d’Autriche-Tyrol) (24 November 1607 - retired 19 April 1626), died 1632
Leopold Wilhelm Erzherzog von Österreich (born Germany) (10 October 1626 - death 2 November 1662); previously Bishop of
Passau (Bavaria, Germany) ([1625.11.08] 1626.02.01 – 1662.11.02); also Bishop of
Halberstadt (Germany) (1627.12.24 – 1648), Bishop of
Olomouc (Olmütz in
Moravia, Czech Republic) ([1637.11.16] 1638.09.28 – 1662.11.02), Bishop of
Wrocław (Breslau,
Poland) (1656.01.21 – 1662.11.02)
Auxiliary Bishop: Paulus Aldringen (born Luxemburg) (1627.04.28 – death 1644.03.28), Titular Bishop of
Tripolis (1627.04.28 – 1644.03.28)
Auxiliary Bishop: Johann Peter von Quentell (born Germany) (1698.05.16 – 1699.08.14), Titular Bishop of
Adrianopolis (1698.05.16 – death 1710.04.13); next Auxiliary Bishop of
Diocese of Münster (Germany) (1699.08.14 – 1710.04.13)
Auxiliary Bishop: Toussaint Duvernin (1757.05.23 – death 1785.08.08), Titular Bishop of
Arathia (1757.05.23 – 1785.08.08)
Louis René Édouard de Rohan-Guéméné (11 March 1779 - resigned 29 November 1801), succeeding as previous
Coadjutor Bishop of Strasbourg ([1759.11.22] 1760.03.24 – 1779.03.11) and Titular Bishop of
Canopus (1760.03.24 – 1778.06.01); already
Cardinal-Priest with no Title assigned (1778.06.01 – death 1803.02.16)
Auxiliary Bishop: Jean Jacques Lantz (1786.04.03 – death 1799.01.06), Titular Bishop of
Dora (1786.04.03 – 1799.01.06)
Jean-Pierre Saurine (9 April 1802 - death 7 May 1813)
Claude-Marie-Paul Tharin (23 August 1823 - 16 November 1826 Resigned), died 1843
Jean-François-Marie Le Pappe de Trévern (13 December 1826 - death 27 August 1842), previously Bishop of
Aire (France) ([1823.01.13] 1823.05.16 – 1827.04.09)
Coadjutor Bishop:
Bishop-elect Denis-Auguste Affre (1840.04.27 – 1840.05.26), Titular Bishop of
Pompeiopolis (1840.04.27 – 1840.05.26); later Metropolitan Archbishop of
Paris (France) ([1840.05.26] 1840.07.13 – 1848.06.27)
Andreas (André) Räß (Raess) (27 August 1842 - death 17 November 1887), succeeding as previous
Coadjutor Bishop of Strasbourg ([1840.08.05] 1840.12.14 – 1842.08.27) and Titular Bishop of
Rhodiopolis (1840.12.14 – 1842.08.27)
Apostolic Administrator Pierre-Paul Stumpf (1883.02.25 – 1887.11.17 see below), while Coadjutor Bishop of Strasbourg ([1881.04.09] 1881.05.13 – 1887.11.17) and Titular Bishop of
Cæsaropolis (1881.05.13 – 1887.11.17)
Pierre-Paul Stumpf (see above 17 November 1887 - death 10 August 1890)
Adolf Fritzen (Fitzen) (24 January 1891 - retired 31 July 1919), emeritate as
Titular Archbishop of
Mocissus (31 July 1919 – death 1919.09.07)
Auxiliary Bishop: Charles Marbach (1891.06.04 – death 1901.09), Titular Bishop of
Paphos (1891.06.04 – 1916.10.15)
Auxiliary Bishop:
Franz Zorn von Bulach (1901.10.24 – retired 1919), Titular Bishop of
Erythræ (1901.10.24 – death 1925.01.13)[4]
Charles-Joseph-Eugène Ruch (23 April 1919 - death 29 August 1945); previously Coadjutor Bishop of
Nancy (Alsace, France) (1913.06.14 – 1918.10.20) and Titular Bishop of
Gerasa (1913.06.14 – 1918.10.20), succeeding as Bishop of Nancy (1918.10.20 – 1919.04.23)
Jean-Julien Weber,
P.S.S. (29 August 1945 - retired 30 December 1966), succeeding as former Coadjutor Bishop of Strasbourg ([1945.05.19] 1945.06.01 – 1945.08.29) and Titular Bishop of
Messene (1945.06.01 – 1945.08.29); emeritate first as
Archbishop ad personam (1962.03.25 – resigned 1966.12.30), died 1981
Léon-Arthur-Auguste Elchinger (30 December 1966 - retired 16 July 1984), succeeded as former
Coadjutor Bishop of Strasbourg ([1957.05.17] 1957.10.26 – 1966.12.30) and Titular Bishop of
Antandrus (1957.10.26 – 1966.12.30); died 1998
Coadjutor Bishop: Roger Joseph Heckel,
Jesuit Order (S.J.) (1980.03.27 – death 1982.09.26), previously
Roman Curia official : Vice-Secretary of
Pontifical Commission of Justice and Peace (1975 – 1976), Undersecretary of Pontifical Commission of Justice and Peace (1976 – 1977), Secretary of Pontifical Commission of Justice and Peace (1977 – 1980.03.27)
Charles Amarin Brand (16 July 1984 - see promoted 1 June 1988 see below), previously Titular Bishop of
Uthina (1971.12.28 – 1981.07.30) as Auxiliary Bishop of
Fréjus–Toulon (France) (1971.12.28 – 1976.11.18) and then as Auxiliary Bishop of Strasbourg (1976.11.18 – 1981.07.30), next exempt Archbishop of
Monaco (
Monaco) (1981.07.30 – 1984.07.16)
Auxiliary Bishop: Léon Hégelé (1985.09.09 – retired 2000.12.18), Titular Bishop of
Utica (1985.09.09 – death 2014.02.11)
Archbishops of Strasbourg
Archbishop-bishopCharles Amarin Brand (see above 1 June 1988 see promoted - retired 23 October 1997), also Vice-President of Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (1986 – 1990), President of Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (1990 – 1993); died 2013
Joseph Pierre Aimé Marie Doré,
Sulpicians (P.S.S.) (23 October 1997 - 25 August 2006 Resigned), stayed on as
Apostolic Administrator of Strasbourg (2006.08.25 – retired 2007.04.21)
Jean-Pierre Grallet,
O.F.M. (21 April 2007 - retired 2017.02.18); succeeded as previous Titular Bishop of
Dardanus (2004.09.27 – 2007.04.21) and Auxiliary Bishop of Strasbourg (2004.09.27 – 2007.04.21)
Auxiliary Bishop: Vincent Jordy (2008.09.19 – 2011.07.22), Titular Bishop of
Idassa (2008.09.19 – 2011.07.22); next Bishop of
Saint-Claude (France) (2011.07.22 – ...)