Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hamburg

For the medieval archdiocese, see Archbishopric of Bremen.
Archdiocese of Hamburg
Archidioecesis Hamburgensis
Erzbistum Hamburg
Location
Country Germany
Ecclesiastical province Hamburg
Deaneries 17
Statistics
Area 32,493 km2 (12,546 sq mi)
Population
- Total
- Catholics		 (as of 2013)
5,797,975
397,331 (6.9%)
Information
Denomination Roman Catholic
Sui iuris church Latin Church
Rite Roman Rite
Established 23 July 1973
(As Apostolic Administration of Schwerin)
24 October 1994
(As Archdiocese of Hamburg)
Cathedral Cathedral of Our Lady, Hamburg
Patron saint St Ansgar
Current leadership
Pope Francis
Metropolitan Archbishop Stefan Heße
Suffragans Diocese of Hildesheim
Diocese of Osnabrück
Vicar General Ansgar Thim
Emeritus Bishops Werner Thissen
Norbert Werbs
Hans-Jochen Jaschke
Map

Map of the Archdiocese
Website
Website of the Archdiocese

The Archdiocese of Hamburg (Lat. Archidioecesis Hamburgensis; Ger. Erzbistum Hamburg) is a diocese in the north of Germany and covers the Federal States of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein as well as the Mecklenburgian part of the Federal State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. In terms of surface area it is the largest in Germany. It is characterized by its situation as a diocese in the Diaspora. Seat of the archbishop is the New St. Mary's Cathedral in Sankt Georg, Hamburg. On January 26, 2015 Stefan Heße, General Vicar of the Archdiocese of Cologne, was appointed Archbishop of Hamburg.[1]

History

In 831 Hamburg was elevated to an archbishopric by Pope Gregory IV and in 834 the Benedictine monk Ansgar was elected as the first archbishop. After the looting of Hamburg by Vikings in 845 the archbishopric of Hamburg was united with the bishopric of Bremen, and the archbishop's seat moved to Bremen. Still, there was a cathedral chapter in Hamburg with several special rights, which started to build St. Mary's Cathedral. The incumbents of the Hamburg-Bremen see are usually titled Archbishop of Hamburg and Bishop of Bremen between 848 and 1072, however, some later archbishops continued the tradition of naming both dioceses until 1258. During Reformation the bishopric underwent steady deterioration and finally, with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, it ceased to exist.

By the apostolic constitution Omnium Christifidelium of Pope John Paul II, of October 24, 1994 coming into effect on January 7, 1995, the archdiocese of Hamburg was erected again. Today it consists of territory that once belonged to the dioceses of Osnabrück, and Hildesheim, namely the Free and Hanse-City of Hamburg, the State of Schleswig-Holstein and the half-State of Mecklenburg. The cathedral and the vicar-general are seated in the city-quarter Sankt Georg which is located in the borough of Hamburg-Central.

Ordinaries

References

  1. ↑ "Freue mich auf die Begegnungen", domradio, Germany, 26 January 2015. Retrieved on 26 January 2015.

External links

Coordinates: 53°33′27″N 10°00′49″E / 53.5575°N 10.0136°E / 53.5575; 10.0136

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