Diocese of Kotor

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Diocese of Kotor
Basic data
Country Montenegro
Ecclesiastical province Split-Makarska
Metropolitan bishopric Split-Makarska Archdiocese
Diocesan bishop Sedis vacancy
Apostolic Administrator Rrok Gjonlleshaj
Emeritus diocesan bishop Ilija Janjić
surface 674 km²
Parishes 25 (2016 / AP 2017 )
Residents 105.012 (2016 / AP 2017 )
Catholics 11.003 (2016 / AP 2017 )
proportion of 10.5%
Diocesan priest 13 (2016 / AP 2017 )
Religious priest 4 (2016 / AP 2017 )
Catholics per priest 647
Friars 4 (2016 / AP 2017 )
Religious sisters 27 (2016 / AP 2017 )
rite Roman rite
Liturgical language Croatian
cathedral St. Tryphon
address Stari grad br. 336
85330 Kotor
Website http://www.kotorskabiskupija.net/
Kotor Cathedral

The diocese of Kotor ( Croatian : Kotorska biskupija , Latin : Dioecesis Catharensis ) is one of the two Roman Catholic dioceses in Montenegro . Its area (674 km²) includes the villages around the Boka Kotorska ( Risan , Perast , Tivat , Herceg Novi and others). Most of the diocese's Catholics belong to the Croatian minority in Montenegro. Few of the diocesans are Montenegrins and Albanians.

The episcopal church of the diocese is the cathedral St. Tryphon (Croatian and Montenegrin Sveti Trifun ) in Kotor , built under Stefan Nemanja . As a suffragan, the diocese is traditionally subordinate to a Dalmatian archdiocese. Since 1969 it has belonged to the Metropolitan Association of the Archdiocese of Split-Makarska . However, the bishop is a member of the International Bishops' Conference of Saints Cyril and Methodius , which is responsible for Serbia, Macedonia, Kosovo and Montenegro.

history

In the place of today's Kotor there was the colony Ascrivium during the Roman Empire . Risinium is documented as the bishopric of the region until the end of the 6th century , the last bishop of which is mentioned in 595, when the city fell victim to the onslaught of the Avars and Slavs . In 860 Ascrivium was destroyed by the Saracens , but soon afterwards it was repopulated.

The diocese of Kotor was established in the 10th century, when the population of the region had long since consisted not only of long-established Romans, but also of Slavs. The close economic, ecclesiastical and cultural relations between Kotor and Italy, which existed from the Middle Ages to the 18th century, have decisively shaped the city and the diocese. Until well into the 19th century, Italian was the official language of the episcopal curia .

When the diocese was founded, Kotor was under Byzantine rule, but the ecclesiastical jurisdiction was still held by the Pope in Rome. In the 12th century Kotor was an independent city republic, which minted its own coins with the image of the city and diocese patron St. Tryphonius. After Kotor had been loosely dependent on the Serbian Principality of Doclea for some time , the city came under the rule of the Serbian Tsar Stefan Dušan after 1340 , who tried to integrate the diocese into his imperial church. But as early as 1385 Kotor came under the protection of the Bosnian King Tvrtko I , who respected the city's autonomy. Under the long Venetian rule (1423–1797) the diocese of Kotor was suffragan of the archdiocese of Zara (Zadar) . This remained so until after the Second World War.

Under Austrian rule in 1828 the long unoccupied small diocese of Budva was dissolved and united with Kotor. Shortly before the outbreak of World War I, the diocese had around 13,000 believers. At the same time, around 15,000 non-Catholics, mostly Orthodox, lived in the area. A significant part of the Catholics at that time were seamen from the Austro-Hungarian Navy, which was stationed in Kotor. Accordingly, the number of Catholics decreased when the Bay of Kotor area was united with Yugoslavia in 1918. At the same time, Orthodox Christians immigrated from the interior of Montenegro. The Catholic population continued to decrease in the 20th century, making Kotor a diaspora . Most recently, in 1992, a large number of Catholic Croats (approx. 1,000) left the region due to the Yugoslav wars. When the Croatian church provinces were reorganized in 1969, Kotor was placed under the Split-Makarska Archdiocese .

In 1999 the diocese secretary and pastor of Dobrota , Branko Sbutega , founded the diocesan charity of the diocese. Shortly after it was founded, the Catholic aid organization had to look after thousands of refugees from Kosovo who fled to Montenegro before the war.

literature

  • Nikčević, Vojislav (ed.): Episkopi Kotara i episkopija i mitropolja Risan. (= Monumenta Montenegrina, 6.1). Podgorica 2001. ISBN 86-305-0330-0
  • Nikčević, Vojislav (ed.): Kotor i Risan od 325. do 1200. godine. (= Monumenta Montenegrina, 6.2). Podgorica 2004. ISBN 86-305-0329-7
  • Stjepčević, Ivo: Katedrala Sv. Tripuna u Kotoru. Split 1938.
  • Milošević, Miloš (arr.): Statute Bratovštine svetog Nikole monara u Kotoru iz 1463. sa alegatima do 1807. godine. Kotor 2009. ISBN 978-9940-9216-0-6

swell

  1. ↑ cf. [1] , official liturgical language in the Diocese of Kotor, accessed on July 19, 2008

Web links

See also