Diocese of Linz

	Diocese of Linz
Basic data
Country	Austria
Ecclesiastical province	Vienna
Metropolitan bishopric	Archdiocese of Vienna
Diocesan bishop	Manfred Scheuer
Emeritus diocesan bishop	Maximilian Aichern OSB ; Ludwig Schwarz SDB
Vicar General	Severin Lederhilger
founding	1785
surface	11,909 km²
Dean's offices	39 ( list ) (2013 / AP 2014 )
Parishes	474 (2013 / AP 2014 )
Residents	1,423,000 (2013 / AP 2014 )
Catholics	1,000,314 (2013 / AP 2014 )
proportion of	70.3%
Diocesan priest	378 (2013 / AP 2014 )
Religious priest	302 (2013 / AP 2014 )
Catholics per priest	1,471
Permanent deacons	111 (2013 / AP 2014 )
Friars	372 (2013 / AP 2014 )
Religious sisters	832 (2013 / AP 2014 )
rite	Roman rite
Liturgical language	German
cathedral	To Our Lady
address	Herrenstrasse 19 ; 4010 Linz
Website	www.dioezese-linz.at
	Ecclesiastical province

Development of membership numbers

The Diocese of Linz ( Latin Dioecesis Linciensis ) is an Austrian diocese that belongs to the ecclesiastical province of Vienna . She is responsible for the federal state of Upper Austria .

history

Prehistory of the diocesan area

In Roman times , a large part of the diocesan area belonged to the province of Noricum . After the town elevation ( Municipium ) of Lauriacum (today Lorch ) in 212 there was probably a bishopric there. In 304, 40 Christians, among them St. Florian , died a martyr's death and were possibly buried in Lauriacum. In the 5th century, a bishop named Constantius in Lauriacum is mentioned in the Vita Sancti Severini .

After the Great Migration , Irish Scottish and Frankish missionaries preached Christianity. In 739, St. Boniface established the diocesan borders so that Upper Austria became part of the Passau diocese . Until about 903 Lorch is attested as the seat of a choir bishop (country bishop).

Many church structures were destroyed by the incursions of the Magyars . After the battle on the Lechfeld (955), Bishop Pilgrim began to rebuild. From 1065 the bishops Altmann and Ulrich began to divide the diocesan area into parish districts .

At the time of the Reformation in the 16th century, it was mainly the nobles who promoted the new faith and a large part of the population became Protestant . As a result of the Counter Reformation , Upper Austria became predominantly Catholic again in the 17th century.

Diocese coat of arms Linz

Maria Conception Cathedral Linz

History of the Diocese of Linz

Emperor Joseph II forced the Diocese of Passau to renounce their parishes in Upper Austria with a contract dated July 4, 1784 and founded the Diocese of Linz. With a bull dated January 28 , 1785, Pope Pius VI voted . to. The first bishop of Linz was the Passau vicar general and Freising auxiliary bishop Ernest Johann Nepomuk von Herberstein . This ecclesiastical installation accompanies the elevation of the region to crown land Austria ob der Enns , after it had been politically part of the Duchy of Austria for centuries.

Infrastructure

The diocese's episcopal grammar school is the Petrinum at the foot of the Pöstlingsberg .

List of bishops

Ernest Johann Nepomuk Count Herberstein (1783–1788)
Joseph Anton Gall (1789–1807)
Sigismund Ernst Count von Hohenwart (1809-1825)
Gregorius Thomas Ziegler (1827-1852)
Franz Joseph 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 (Bishop Coadjutor 1949–1955)
Franz Salesius Zauner (1956–1980)
Maximilian Aichern (1981-2005)
Ludwig Schwarz (2005-2015)
Manfred Scheuer (since 2015)

Auxiliary bishops

Josephus Calasanz Fließer (1941–1946)
Alois Wagner (1969–1982)

literature

Johannes Ebner (editor): The Diocese of Linz from 1945 to 1995. Episcopal Ordinariate, Linz 1995.
Rudolf Leeb among other things: History of Christianity in Austria. From antiquity to the present. Uebereuter, Vienna 2003, ISBN 3-8000-3914-1 .
Helga Litschel (editor): Church in Upper Austria. Office of the Upper Austrian Provincial Government, Linz 1985.
Josef Vodka: Church in Austria. Guide through their history. Herder, Vienna 1959.
Rudolf Zinnhobler , Kriemhild Pangerl: Church history in Linz. Diocesan Archives, Linz 2000.

Web links

Commons : Diocese Linz - Collection of images, videos and audio files