Germany and Austria

This blog will discuss the Catholic Church in Germany and Austria.

Germany

Catholicism came to western Germany—the part controlled by the Roman Empire—in the First or Second Century and several dioceses were established by the 4th Century.  With the fall of the Empire in the 5th Century, Catholics in western Germany were eventually overwhelmed by pagan Franks.  In 496, Clovis I, the Frankish king, converted to Catholicism, as eventually did most of his people.  Eastern Germans by this time had become Arian Christians.  Over the next several centuries, Irish, English, and Scottish missionaries reinforced the Faith in all of the German states.  Two of the greatest of these missionaries were Columban in the 6th Century and Boniface in the 8th Century.  Eventually, Catholicism became the official religion of the Holy Roman Empire.  In the 16th Century, Germany became the epicenter of the Protestant Reformation.  Germany, which was divided into many small nations, became divided by religion, with many of these nations embracing Lutheranism and others remaining faithful to the Church.
 
Germany has 80.2 million people—28 percent are Catholic, 29 percent are other Christians, 5 percent are Muslim, and 38 percent are not religious.  Germany has seven Catholic provinces—Bamberg, Berlin, Cologne, Freiburg im Breisgau, Hamburg, Munich and Freising, and Paderborn.  A military diocese was established in 1933.

The Ukrainian Apostolic Exarchate of Germany and Scandinavia serves 55,000 Ukrainian-rite Catholics in Germany, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.  The Exarchy was established in 1959 and is headquartered in Munich.  It is immediately subject to the Pope.

Province of Cologne

The province consists of the civil states of Saarland and Bremen, and portions of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Lower Saxony, and Hesse.  The Diocese of Cologne was created around 300 and became a metropolitan archdiocese in 795.

The Cathedral of Saints Peter and Mary in Cologne is Germany’s most visited site and is the largest Gothic church in northern Europe.  Due to its twin 515-foot spires, it has the largest façade of any church in the world.  The Archbishop of Cologne received relics of the Three Kings from the Holy Roman Emperor in 1164 and decided to build a new cathedral to house them as many pilgrims were coming to the old cathedral.  The foundation was laid in 1248 and a design was chosen based on the cathedral in Amiens, France.  Work on the Cathedral largely ceased in the mid-1500s and did not resume until 1842.  The Cathedral was completed in 1880 and for four years was the tallest building in the world—until the completion of the Washington Monument in Washington, DC.

The Cathedral was heavily damaged during the Second World War, but was restored by 1956.  The nave has several 19th Century stained glass windows, including a large window in the south transept.  The Cathedral has several notable pieces of art, including the 12th Century Shrine of the Three Kings made of bronze, silver, enamels, and gemstones, a black marble main altar with a carving of the Coronation of the Virgin; a large 10th Century crucifix; and a 13th Century Madonna.  The Cathedral’s two pipe organs were built in the last century.  The Cathedral has 11 bells, four of which date to the 15th Century.  The largest bell, named for St. Peter and referred to as the Great Bell of Germany, weighs 24 tons.  See koelner-dom.de.

Reliquary of the Three Kings

All pictures are from Wikipedia.

The Province has five suffragan dioceses.

• The Diocese of Trier was created in the 3rd Century and became a metropolitan archdiocese in 772.  It was demoted to a diocese in 1801.  Trier has not only a diocesan cathedral, but also three basilicas, including the Basilica of St. Matthias, which contains the tomb of the Apostle.
• The Diocese of Munster was created in 800.
• The Diocese of Limburg was created in 1821.
• The Diocese of Aachen was created in 1801, was suppressed in 1821, and restored in 1930.
• The Diocese of Essen was created in 1957.

Province of Bamberg

The Province consists of the northwestern part of the civil state of Bavaria and portions of Rhineland-Palatinate.  The Diocese of Bamberg was established in 1007 and became a metropolitan archdiocese in 1818.

The Imperial Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul and St. George is in Bamberg.  Bamberg was the home of the 11th Century Holy Roman Emperor Henry II, thus the title Imperial Cathedral.  Henry and his wife, Kunigunde, were later canonized.  The current Romanesque building dates to the 13th Century and has four 266-foot towers.  There are 11 bells, the oldest dating to the 12th Century.  One of the chapels contains a nail from the True Cross.  Henry and Kunigunde are buried in the Cathedral.  Their tomb is made of limestone and marble and was carved between 1499 and 1513.  Episodes of their lives are carved along the sides.  Pope Clement II, a former Bishop of Bamberg, is also buried in the Cathedral.  Also in the Cathedral is an equestrian statue known as the Bamberg Horseman, whose origins and identity are a mystery.  It was likely made in the 13th Century.  Pope Pius XI declared the Cathedral a minor basilica in 1923.

All pictures are from Wikipedia.

The Province has three suffragan dioceses.

• The Diocese of Speyer was established in 340.
• The Diocese of Wurzburg was established in 741.
• The Diocese of Eichstatt was established in 745.

Province of Munich and Freising

The province consists of the southern and eastern portions of the civil state of Bavaria.  The Diocese of Freising was established in 739 by St. Boniface and later became a prince-bishopric (where the ruler has both temporal and spiritual authority).  It was suppressed in 1803 and became the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Munich and Freising in 1818.

The Cathedral of Our Dear Lady in Munich is a red brick Gothic church built between 1468 and 1494, although the two towers (each about 325 feet tall) were not completed until 1525.  When it was constructed, it could hold 20,000 standing people, although now it has pews.  The Cathedral was severely damaged during the Second World War, but has been restored.  There are several paintings dating from the 14th through the 18th Centuries, as well as Gothic stained glass windows.  The baptistery has a Baroque red marble font with a 14th Century carving of Christ.  The main pipe organ has almost 7,200 pipes and a small pipe organ has about 2,700 pipes.  The towers have 10 bells, some dating to the 14th Century.  The largest weighs 9 tons.  The Cathedral also has tombs of archbishops and of Bavarian dukes and kings.  See muenchner-dom.de.

The top picture is from Panaramio and the others are from Wikipedia.

The Co-Cathedral of Our Lady’s Nativity, Sts. Corbinian, Lantpert, Nonnosus and Sigismund is in Freising.  The Cathedral was built in a Romanesque style between 1159 and 1205.  Baroque renovations were made in the 17th Century and Rococo decorations were added in the 18th Century.  The main altarpiece was completed in the early 16th Century.  The Cathedral once had a painting of Our Lady as “The Woman of the Apocalypse,” done by Peter Paul Rubens around 1625, but it is now in a museum.  The Cathedral has a 370-foot tower and 13th and 14th Century stained glass windows.  Pope Benedict XVI was ordained a priest in the Cathedral in 1951.  See freisinger-dom.de.

Both pictures are from Wikipedia.

The Province has three suffragan dioceses.

• The Diocese of Augsburg was established in the 6th Century.
• The Diocese of Passau was established in 737.
• The Diocese of Regensburg was established in 739.

Province of Freiburg im Breisgau

The province consists of the civil state of Baden-Wurttemberg and portions of Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate.  The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Freiburg im Breisgau was created in 1821.

The Cathedral of Our Lady in Freiburg was built in a Gothic style in the 13th Century.  It has a noteworthy 380-foot tower with 19 bells, the oldest dating to 1258.  The windows were donated by various guilds and each features a symbol of the sponsoring guild.  The main altar was designed by Han Baldung Green in the 16th Century with colorful scenes from the life of Our Blessed Mother.  See freiburgermuenster.info.

The first two pictures are from Pinterest and the others are from Wikipedia.

The Province has two suffragan dioceses.

• The Diocese of Mainz was created in 340 and became a metropolitan archdiocese in 747 before being demoted to a diocese in 1801.
• The Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart was created as the Diocese of Rottenburg in 1821 and acquired its current name in 1978.

Province of Paderborn

The province consists of portions of the civil states of Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Hesse, and North Rhine-Westphalia.  The Diocese of Paderborn was created in 799 and was a state of the Holy Roman Empire from 1281 to 1803.  It became the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Paderborn in 1930.

The Cathedral of St. Mary, St. Liborius, and St. Kilian in Paderborn is the fourth cathedral on or near the current site.  The Cathedral was built in the mid-12th Century, but was essentially reconstructed using Romanesque and Gothic styles in the 13th Century.  Some of the Gothic features were replaced by Baroque art in the 17th Century.  The Cathedral was heavily damaged during the Second World War, but was reconstructed after the war.  The Cathedral is 340 feet long and 170 feet wide.  The main tower is 300 feet high.  Among the Cathedral’s features are a 14th Century Pieta, a 14th Century alabaster relief depicting the adoration of the Magi, a 15th Century double Madonna hanging from the ceiling, a 16th Century medieval wooden triptych depicting the life of Christ, and an 18th Century white and gold pulpit.  The crypt, which has several mosaics, contains the tombs of bishops and archbishops of Paderborn, as well as relics of St. Liborius.  A unique feature is a 16th Century window showing three hares in motion, which has become a symbol of the city.  See dom-paderborn.de.

All pictures are from Wikipedia.

The Province has three suffragan dioceses.

• The Diocese of Fulda was created as an abbacy nullius in 751 and became a diocese in 1752.
• The Diocese of Erfurt was created in 742, suppressed in 755, became an apostolic administration in 1973, before once again becoming a diocese in 1994.
• The Diocese of Magdeburg was created as a metropolitan archdiocese in 968, was suppressed in 1551, restored as an apostolic administration in 1973, and became a diocese in 1994.

Province of Berlin

The province consists of the civil states of Berlin, Brandenburg, and portions of Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia.  The Diocese of Berlin was established in 1930 and became the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Berlin in 1994.

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Hedwig in Berlin was constructed between 1747 and 1773 and is modeled after the Pantheon in Rome.  The Neo-classical Cathedral was essentially destroyed by Allied bombing during the Second World War, but was rebuilt between 1952 and 1963.  The Cathedral has three tapestries that are rotated over time—all have the theme of the Heavenly Jerusalem.  Pope Pius XI declared the church a minor basilica in 1927.

All pictures are from Wikipedia.

The Province has two suffragan dioceses.

• The Diocese of Dresden-MeiBen was established as the Diocese of MeiBen in 968, was demoted to an apostolic prefecture in 1567, restored to a diocese in 1921, and given its current name in 1979.
• The Diocese of Gorlitz was established as an apostolic administration in 1972 and became a diocese in 1994.

Province of Hamburg

The province consists of the civil states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein and portions of Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.  The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Hamburg was established in 831, suppressed in 1566, became the Apostolic Administration of Schwerin in 1973, before being restored as the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Hamburg in 1994.

St. Mary’s Cathedral in Hamburg was built between 1890 and 1893 in a Romanesque Revival style.  It has two towers and was the first Catholic church built in Hamburg since the Reformation.  It replaced the original Cathedral that was built in 1035, but demolished in 1804 by a Protestant-dominated city government.

Both pictures are from Wikipedia.

The Co-Cathedral of St. Ann in Schwerin was built in the 1790s and has a statue of St. Ann dating to the late Middle Ages.

Both pictures are from Wikipedia.

The Province has two suffragan dioceses.

• The Diocese of Osnabruck was established in 772.
• The Diocese of Hildesheim was established in 800.

Austria

Catholicism came to what is now Austria at the end of the 3rd Century and was well established by the 8th Century.  Early, now extinct, dioceses were created at least by the 6th Century.  The Protestant Reformation was partially successful, but was almost completely reversed by the Counter-Reformation.

Catholics account for about two-thirds of Austria’s 8.9 million people.  Other Christians number 10 percent and Muslims 6 percent.  The rest of the people have no religious affiliation.  Austria has two Roman-rite Catholic provinces—Salzburg and Vienna.  There are also three other jurisdictions.

• The Territorial Abbacy of Wettingen-Mehrerau was established in 1227.
• The Ordinariate of Austria was established in 1956 to serve 10,000 Eastern-rite Catholics in Austria.  It is administered by the Archbishop of Vienna.
• A military diocese was established in 1959.

Province of Salzburg

The province consists of the southern and western Austria.  A diocese was created in what is now Salzburg in the 4th Century and was suppressed less than 100 years later.  The Abbacy nullius of St. Peter of Salzburg was established in 696 and this became the Diocese of Salzburg in 739.  The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Salzburg was created in 798.  The Archdiocese was a prince-bishopric of the Holy Roman Empire until 1803.  This meant that the Archbishop was both the spiritual and temporal ruler of Salzburg.

The Cathedral of St. Rupert and St. Vergilius in Salzburg was built in a Baroque style between 1614 and 1628.  It can seat 900.  The Cathedral is made of dark grey stone and Untersberg marble and the façade has statues of Christ and several saints.  Outside the Cathedral is the Immaculate Mary column, with a statue of Mary standing on a marble cloud and globe.  Below her are statues representing reactions to her Immaculate Conception, including delighted angels and angry devils.  The Cathedral has two towers and seven bells, two of which date to 1628.  The largest bell is in the north tower and the other six are in the south tower.  The bronze baptismal font dates to 1311.  Both Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Mohr (who wrote “Silent Night”) were baptized at this font.  See salzburger-dom.at.

The first picture is from Expedia, the second from Flickr, and the rest are from Wikipedia.

The Province has four suffragan dioceses.

• The Diocese of Gurk was established in 1071.
• The Diocese of Graz-Seckau was established as the Diocese of Seckau in 1218 and acquired its current name in 1963.
• The Diocese of Innsbruck was established as an apostolic administration in 1925 before becoming a diocese in 1964.
• The Diocese of Feldkirch was established in 1968.

Province of Vienna

The province consists of northern and eastern Austria.  The Diocese of Vienna was created in 1469 and became the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Vienna in 1722.

St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna combines Romanesque and Gothic styles.  Construction began in the 14th Century to replace an earlier building and was completed in 1511.  The German commander ordered the Cathedral to be destroyed as the German Army retreated from Vienna during the Second World War, but a junior officer disobeyed the order.  Unfortunately, civilian looters started fires in stores before the arrival of the Soviet Army, and the fires spread to the Cathedral and caused extensive damage.  Most of the artworks were saved and the Cathedral was repaired and partially reopened in 1948.  The limestone church has two towers—the South Tower rising 446 feet and the North Tower 223 feet.  The Cathedral has 23 bells, the largest of which weighs over 44,000 pounds and was originally cast in 1711 from captured Muslim cannon.  The roof is covered with 230,000 glazed tiles.

The Cathedral has 18 altars and the main altar was built in a Baroque style in the 17th Century.  The Maria Potsch icon depicting Mary and Jesus has become a pilgrimage site as miracles have become associated with the icon.  The stone Gothic pulpit features Doctors of the Church as well as toads, lizards, and a puppy.  One of the Cathedral’s chapels contains relics of St. Valentine.  Thousands of people are buried beneath the Cathedral including emperors, dukes and bishops.  The Cathedral hosted both the marriage and funeral of Wolfgang Mozart, as well as the marriage of Joseph Haydn and the funeral for Antonio Vivaldi.

All pictures are from Wikipedia.

The Province has three suffragan dioceses.

• The Diocese of Linz was created in 1785.
• The Diocese of Sankt Polten was created in 1785.
• The Diocese of Eisenstadt was created as an apostolic administration in 1922 and became a diocese in 1960.

Definitions

The Catholic Church is mostly divided into ecclesiastical provinces—a province consists of a metropolitan archdiocese and one or more dioceses.  The province and the archdiocese are led by an archbishop.  Each of the dioceses is called a suffragan diocese and is led by a bishop.  Archbishops have some responsibilities for the province, but all bishops answer directly to the Pope.  There are mission territories below the level of a diocese, which includes apostolic administrations.  A territorial abbey and an abbey nullius are headed by abbots and may not be part of any province. 

Most Catholics in the world belong to the Latin or Roman rite.  Rite refers to liturgical practices, ecclesiastical discipline, and spiritual heritage.  Many Catholics belong to one of two dozen Eastern rite churches.  Eastern rite churches trace their heritage to Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

A basilica is an honorary title bestowed on a church by the Pope because of the church’s antiquity, dignity, historical importance, or significance as a center of worship.  Some cathedrals are also basilicas.  Each basilica has a ceremonial umbrella in the papal colors of white and yellow and a ceremonial bell.  Both of these are symbolic of the Pope’s special relationship to the basilica.