Diocese of Speyer

Diocese of Speyer
Basic data
Country	Germany
Ecclesiastical province	Bamberg
Metropolitan bishopric	Archdiocese of Bamberg
Diocesan bishop	Karl-Heinz Wiesemann
Auxiliary bishop	Otto Georgens
Vicar General	Andreas Sturm (since March 20, 2018)
surface	5,893 km²
Dean's offices	10 (December 31, 2014)
Parishes	70 (December 31, 2018)
Residents	1,569,600 (December 31, 2018)
Catholics	518,610 (December 31, 2018)
proportion of	33%
Diocesan priest	286 (December 31, 2018)
Religious priest	26 (December 31, 2018)
Catholics per priest	1,662
Permanent deacons	62 (December 31, 2018)
Friars	439 (December 31, 2018)
Religious sisters	458 (December 31, 2018)
rite	Roman rite
Liturgical language	Latin , German
cathedral	Speyer Cathedral
address	Kleine Pfaffengasse 16 P.O. Box 1160 D-67343 Speyer
Website	https://www.bistum-speyer.de/
Ecclesiastical province

The diocese of Speyer ( Latin : Dioecesis Spirensis ) is a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church . It occupies the south of the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate , where it includes the entire Palatinate - within the boundaries before the territorial reform of 1969 - as well as the Saarpfalz district (with the exception of the St. Ingbert district of Rentrisch ), the Ostertal districts of Osterbrücken, Hoof, Niederkirchen , Bubach, Marth and Saal in the district town of St. Wendel and the Saarbrücken districts of Eschringen and Ensheim in the east of the Saarland . The diocese thus includes the Bavarian Palatinate in the borders before 1920.

The bishopric is located in the Palatinate city of Speyer am Rhein . The Diocese of Speyer is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Bamberg , the Speyer bishop is a member of the Freising Bishops' Conference .

After the resignation of Bishop Anton Schlembach on February 10, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI. on December 19, 2007 the then Paderborn Auxiliary Bishop Karl-Heinz Wiesemann as his successor. The inauguration of the 96th Bishop of Speyer took place on March 2, 2008.

history

Beginnings and development

Coat of arms of the Diocese of Speyer

In a different shape than today, the Speyer diocese is one of the oldest dioceses in Germany, dating back to the 4th century. As early as 346, Jesse, a bishop of Speyer, was first mentioned in a document. For centuries, the diocese also had secular administrative functions as a direct imperial monastery , which were performed by the respective prince-bishop .

In late antiquity, the diocese initially only extended to what is now the Palatinate to the left of the Rhine; With the Christianization of the Franks, it was greatly expanded to the east, to which the efforts of the Weissenburg monastery in Alsace contributed in particular . Emperor Otto I gave the diocese the status of imperial immediacy. During the Salian reign , numerous monasteries and churches were built in the diocese. In 1030 the foundation stone was laid for the Speyer Cathedral , which is the largest of the three Romanesque imperial cathedrals .

From 1111 onwards, the city of Speyer received more and more freedom rights and within the next two centuries broke away from the rule of the bishop. In 1371 the bishop moved his seat to Udenheim (today Philippsburg).

Diocesan map of the Diocese of Speyer (around 1500) with subdivision into archdeaconates and land chapters (by Franz Xaver Glasschröder 1906)

Principality of Speyer (by Homann Heirs 1735)

Until 1801 the diocese consisted of a part on the left bank of the Rhine and a part on the right bank of the Rhine. On the left bank of the Rhine, the area comprised the southern and the western Palatinate - north about to Bad Dürkheim , west to Dahn . The towns of Weißenburg and Lauterburg , which are now part of Alsace, also belonged to Speyer. On the right bank of the Rhine, the diocese stretched over a large part of what is now the state of Baden-Württemberg , reaching north to Sinsheim , south to Wildbad and east to the Grüningen an der Glems dean's office , with a narrow strip as far as Backnang . The southern border followed the former Franconian-Alemannic demarcation line.

Reformation time

During the Reformation , the diocese not only lost numerous churches, but also two thirds of its assets and land. Due to the fact that about 40 different small principalities previously ruled in the area of ​​the diocese, some of which opted for the Reformation and some against, the principality was split up into many no longer coherent areas. Numerous Catholics have lived in the diaspora since then , especially in the northern Palatinate .

In the areas that remained Catholic, Bishop Eberhard von Dienheim carried out the Tridentine reforms. Numerous schools were founded; In 1599 a German-language hymn book was published in order to increase the internal participation of the population in the worship service.

War of the Palatinate Succession

On Whitsun 1689, the whole of Speyer including the cathedral was burned down during the war of the Palatinate Succession . In the Treaty of Rijswijk in 1697, many Reformed parishes became Catholic again. The following bishops endeavored to remove the devastation and a thorough reform of the impoverished diocese.

In 1723 the bishop moved his residence to Bruchsal . The last four shepherds resided in the local castle and the St. Peter's Church in Bruchsal became a burial place.

French Revolution

But a little later, the diocese found itself in even greater distress when the French Revolution encroached on the German territories west of the Rhine. The part of the diocese on the left bank of the Rhine was also occupied by the revolutionary troops and the entire church property was confiscated. The bishop's jurisdiction was withdrawn, and the clergy either had to take the oath of revolution until 1792 or were expelled. In 1792 Speyer was stormed and devastated by French troops. In 1794, Prince-Bishop Damian August Philipp Karl fled from Limburg-Stirum , and the area on the left bank of the Rhine was initially added to the Bas-Rhin department .

The peace treaty of Campo Formio of 1797 provided for the cession of the areas on the left bank of the Rhine to France. The Palatinate now belonged to the Donnersberg department , which was administered from Mainz. In 1802, the last Prince-Bishop Wilderich von Walderdorf , in obedience to the Concordat concluded with France in 1801 and the bull "Qui Christi Domini", canonically renounce the area on the left bank of the Rhine. Its places south of the Queich were now added to the diocese of Strasbourg , the remaining area to the diocese of Mainz . This also included the western Palatinate with Zweibrücken and Landstuhl and the northern Palatinate to Lauterecken and Obermoschel ; the parts of the Bishopric of Worms on the left bank of the Rhine were also absorbed into the Greater Mainz Bishopric. The Speyer diocesan area on the right bank of the Rhine existed as a rump bishopric under the name "Vikariat Bruchsal " until 1827 and was then incorporated into the Archdiocese of Freiburg . Politically, the diocese was secularized in 1803. The part on the left bank of the Rhine had already fallen to France, the part on the right bank of the Rhine became part of the Grand Duchy of Baden .

The Bishop of Mainz, Joseph Ludwig Colmar , looked after the entire Palatinate on the left bank of the Rhine and tried to repair the damage caused by the revolution. The dioceses were plundered and many churches destroyed. Some convincing personalities such as the priest Johann Michael Schang in Pirmasens , Philipp Jakob Gillmann in Rheinzabern and Christoph Mähler in Speyer helped to maintain the life of faith. In 1806 the Speyer Cathedral was to be demolished, but Colmar obtained a promise from Napoleon that the building would be preserved.

Bavarian time

→ Main article : Palatinate (Bavaria)

In 1816/17, after the fall of Napoleon, the artificially created Grand Diocese of Mainz dissolved. In its current form, the Speyer diocese was rebuilt in 1817 within the boundaries of the Rhine district, which has belonged to the Kingdom of Bavaria since 1816 and which, in addition to the Palatinate, also included today's Saarpfalz district. The Concordat of 1817 provided for the establishment of two archbishoprics with three suffragan dioceses each in the Kingdom of Bavaria. This political past also explains the affiliation to the Archdiocese of Bamberg, because despite the separation of the Rhine District from Bavaria after the Second World War , the Diocese of Speyer remained canonically connected to Bavaria. The Palatinate was the replacement for the Duchy of Salzburg , which Bavaria ceded to Austria in a state treaty after the Congress of Vienna (1815) .

With the circumscription bull of April 1818, the new borders of the diocese were circumscribed. It was reduced to a quarter of its original size. The actual rebuilding took place until 1821. It was only in that year that the bull was published and a new cathedral chapter was installed on November 7th. The enthronement of the new bishop Matthäus Georg von Chandelle († 1826) took place on January 22, 1822. In the period between 1818 and 1821, the future Bishop of Mainz, Johann Jakob Humann , acted as apostolic vicar of the Speyerer Sprengels, which already existed legally but was not yet functional.

The political unrest of the 19th century did not make it easy to rebuild community life and develop a common identity in the diocese. The religious freedom guaranteed by the constitution was practically non-existent because of the state church sovereignty of the Bavarian king. The Kulturkampf (late 1860s to 1890s) brought the diocese into great difficulties again.

Modern times

At the beginning of the 20th century, parish life took off, which manifested itself in many church buildings, newly revived pilgrimages and the revival of Catholic associations. This contrasted with the comparatively widespread enthusiasm of the Palatinate population for National Socialism . Bishop Ludwig Sebastian († 1943) and the Mainz bishop Ludwig Maria Hugo († 1935), who came from the local diocese, were, however, early and sharp opponents of the Nazi ideology.

The reconstruction after the Second World War also required the integration of the expellees and the many Catholic guest workers from Italy, Spain and Portugal.

In view of the shortage of priests , almost a third of the diocese's 350 parishes are vacant. In 1973 the parish associations were set up, which also led to an enlargement of the deaneries.

In 2007/08 the bishopric was vacant for a year, the diocese was headed by auxiliary bishop Otto Georgens , who had been elected diocesan administrator by the Speyer cathedral chapter , until the inauguration of the new bishop.

administration

bishop

The diocese is led by the bishop. According to the Bavarian Concordat of March 29, 1924, which also applies to the diocese of Speyer, every bishop of the seven Bavarian dioceses and the diocese of Speyer as well as each of the eight cathedral chapters is held every three years a list of candidates for the office of bishop in the respective Diocese are suitable to send to the Curia in Rome . If an appointment is pending, the current candidates are subjected to a so-called information process by the Apostolic Nunciature in Berlin . At the end of this, the Nuncio sends the trial files and a proposal to the Pope's Bishops' Congregation in Rome. The Pope then selects and appoints the new Shepherd.

Diocese structure

In May 2011, under Bishop Karl-Heinz Wiesemann, a new parish structure for the period from 2015 was decided and its implementation started. As part of the “Community Pastoral 2015” concept, pastoral care has been restructured in terms of structure and content. The former 346 parishes or 123 parish communities were merged into 70 large parishes.

The Speyer diocese is divided into 10 deaneries , the layout of which largely coincides with political structures. Deviations, marked with * in the table, only exist where the Rhineland-Palatinate administrative reform of 1969/1972 was not adopted by the diocese. The communities Ebernburg , Altenbamberg , Feilbingert , Hallgarten , Hochstätten , Duchroth , Oberhausen an der Nahe , Callbach , Lettweiler , Becherbach , Reiffelbach and Schmittweiler of the Bad Kreuznach district belong to the diocese area. In contrast, the municipalities belong Odenbach , Hoppstädten , Buborn , Deimberg , Glanbrücken , Grumbach , Weiler , Herren-Sulzbach , Homberg , Kappeln , Kirrweiler , boring , Merzweiler , Unterjeckenbach , Wiesweiler , Offenbach-Hundheim , Niederalben , Herchweiler and Reichweiler the district of Kusel not to the diocese.

Dean's office	City / County	dean
Bad Dürkheim	City of Neustadt , Bad Dürkheim district	Dean Michael Janson, Neustadt
Thunder Mountain	Donnersbergkreis	Dean Markus Horbach, Rockenhausen
Germersheim	District of Germersheim	Dean Jörg Rubeck, Germersheim
Kaiserslautern	City of Kaiserslautern , district of Kaiserslautern	Dean Steffen Kühn, Kaiserslautern
Kusel	District of Kusel	Dean Rudolf Schlenkrich, Kusel
Landau	City of Landau , district of Südliche Weinstrasse	Dean Axel Brecht, Landau
Ludwigshafen	City of Ludwigshafen am Rhein	Dean Alban Meißner, Ludwigshafen, Parish St. Peter and Paul
Pirmasens	City of Pirmasens , city ​​of Zweibrücken , district of Südwestpfalz	Dean Johannes Pioth, Pirmasens
Saar Palatinate	Saarpfalz district , eastern parts of Saarbrücken (Parish Ensheim)	Dean Eric Klein, Blieskastel-Lautzkirchen
Speyer *	City of Speyer , City of Frankenthal , Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis	Dean Frank Aschenberger, Waldsee

Press

With the weekly newspaper Der Pilger , founded in 1848 as Der Christian Pilger , the diocese has one of the oldest newspapers in Germany. The pilgrim is older than the Osservatore Romano , which was only launched in 1861. The tradition was only interrupted by the ban from 1941 to 1945 during the Nazi era .

Between 2005 and 2007 all previous pilgrimage issues were microfilmed by the Palatinate Library . The newspaper has since been available as a source for church history , mission history , and social history .

Necrology

For historical research purposes, the diocese of Speyer operates the diocesan library, the freely accessible online necrology , in which all clergymen who come from the new diocese of Speyer (since 1821) or who previously worked here, deceased are recorded in data records. In addition, many photos of the people were painstakingly collected (from death slips, parish archives, etc.) and digitized or made accessible for the first time together. The online collection is constantly being supplemented and expanded. It represents a valuable aid for local historians and is unique in Germany in this form.

capital

In addition to the regular budget, which must be accounted for, the Diocese of Speyer does not have to account for the "Episcopal See" as long as no public funds are used in it. The assets of the Episcopal See Speyer in October 2013 were around 46.5 million euros. For the first time since its inception, the Speyer diocese published its financial situation.

Patroness and own celebrations

The patroness of the diocese is Maria . The starting point and at the same time the central point of the veneration of Mary in the diocese is the Speyer Cathedral . The Merovingian cathedral already had a Marian patronage (around 670), albeit in the form of the double patronage popular at the time: Mary and Arch-Martyr Stephen . From 859 on, the Speyer Episcopal Church appears only as a Mariendom. Emperor Konrad II consciously resorted to the old Marian patronage when founding his imperial cathedral. In 1046 the high altar was consecrated in honor of Mary. The miraculous image of the "Patrona Spirensis" made the cathedral a center of Marian devotion for the entire diocese since the Middle Ages .

In the Diocese of Speyer, the regional calendar for the German-speaking area is supplemented by the following celebrations (followed by the rank):

Abbreviations: H = high festival , F = festival , G = mandatory day of remembrance , g = non-mandatory day of remembrance

• January 27th: Bl. Paul Josef Nardini , priest, founder of the order - g
• 0May 4th: Bl. Guido , Abbot of Pomposa - g
• June 30th: St. Otto , Bishop of Bamberg - g
• 0July 8th: St. Disibod , hermit on the Nahe - g
• July 15: Bl. Bernhard , Margrave of Baden - g
• 0August 1st: St. Peter Faber , religious priest - g
• 0August 9th: St. Teresa Benedecita of the Cross (Edith Stein) , religious, martyr, patron saint of Europe - F
• August 15th: Assumption of the Virgin Mary , Patroness of the Diocese of Speyer - H
• 10th September: St. Theodard , Bishop of Maastricht (Tongern), martyr near Speyer - g
• September 17th: St. Hildegard von Bingen , abbess, mystic, doctor of the church, founder of Rupertsberg and Eibingen - g
• 0October 5: Anniversary of the consecration of the Speyer Cathedral (October 4, 1061) - in the Cathedral H, the rest in the Diocese F
• 0November 3rd: St. Pirmin , abbot bishop, messenger of faith on the Upper Rhine, founder of Hornbach - g
• 0November 3rd: Bl. Rupert Mayer , religious priest - g
• November 18: Anniversary of the consecration of churches whose consecration day is unknown - H
• 0December 4th: Bl. Adolph Kolping , priest, founder of the Kolping movement - g

Associations

• Catholic women's community in Germany ( kfd ), Diocesan Association Speyer with 13,000 members
• Catholic German Women's Federation ( KDFB ), Diocesan Association Speyer eV, 1,300 members in 20 Z
• Federation of German Catholic Youth (BDKJ), Diocesan Association Speyer - umbrella organization of Catholic youth associations in the Diocese of Speyer
• German Scouting Association Sankt Georg (DPSG), Diocesan Association Speyer - with over 3000 members in the Diocese of Speyer, the largest children and youth association
• DJK Sports Association , German Youth Force Diocesan Association Speyer e. V.
• Junge Kirche Speyer - children and youth association in the diocese of Speyer
• Catholic Young Congregation (KJG), Diocesan Association Speyer - with almost 3000 members in the Diocese of Speyer
• Catholic Student Youth (KSJ), Diocesan Association Speyer - with 300 members in the Diocese of Speyer, mainly active in youth work with pupils and in schools
• Kolping Society , Diocesan Association Speyer - a generational association that is active in child and youth work, for young families and even senior citizens
• Commandery "Regina Coeli", Speyer-Kaiserslautern, of the Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem
• Malteser Jugend in the Diocese of Speyer, internal community of young people up to the age of 27 in the Malteser Hilfsdienst eV at eleven locations (as of 2020)
• Pax Christi , diocese office Speyer, international Catholic peace movement

Culture and sights

Churches

Speyer Cathedral (2015)

• Kaiserdom (Speyer) - cathedral church of the diocese of Speyer
• Castle Church (Blieskastel)
• St. Ulrich (Deidesheim)
• Laurentius Church (Dirmstein)
• St. Jakobus (Germersheim)
• Nikolauskirche (Gimmeldingen)
• Martinskirche (Kaiserslautern)
• St. Gertrud (Leimersheim)
• Pilgrimage Church of the Assumption of Mary (Ludwigshafen)
• Collegiate Church (Neustadt an der Weinstrasse)
• Abbey Church (Otterberg)
• Josefskirche (St. Ingbert)
• St. Joseph (Speyer)
• St. Maria Himmelfahrt (Herxheim)
• See also : Church building in the Diocese of Speyer

Works of art

• Cathedral treasure in the Historical Museum of the Palatinate in Speyer
• Domnapf , a medieval fountain not far from the Speyer Cathedral

Pilgrimage sites in the Diocese of Speyer

• Seven Sorrows of Mary ( Blieskastel ): Pilgrimage days on all Marian feasts and from September 8th to 15th
• Heiligenkirche , ( Bockenheim an der Weinstrasse ): Pilgrimage days on the Solemnity of St. Peter and Paul or on the Sunday before or after
• St. Anna Chapel ( Burrweiler ) : Pilgrimage days on May 1st and 9 Tuesdays from July 1st
• Kolmerberg Chapel Maria Hilf ( Dörrenbach ): Pilgrimage days on the Visitation of the Virgin Mary and Exaltation of the Cross
• Immaculate Conception / Heart of Mary ( Elmstein ): Relics of St. Maria Goretti and St. Ludwig Maria Grignion
• Former monastery church of St. Maria ( Gräfinthal ): pilgrimage days on the Visitation of the Virgin Mary and the Birth of Mary
• Assumption of Mary ( Kirrberg ): Pilgrimage days on the Visitation of the Virgin Mary and the Birth of Mary
• St. Pirminius : Pilgrimage day: Sunday after the feast of St. Pirminius
• Maria Schutz ( Kaiserslautern ): Pilgrimage days: Candlemas, Mary's Birth, Immaculate Conception, Francis of Assisi , Elisabeth of Thuringia , Antonius of Padua
• Madonna von Pötsch , ( Kindsbach ): Pilgrimage days: Visitation of the Virgin Mary, Birth of Mary and St. Joseph
• Heart Maria ( Kreimbach-Kaulbach ): Pilgrimage days: Every Monday after the Visitation of the Virgin Mary and the Birth of the Virgin Mary
• Holy Cross Chapel Palmberg , ( Laumersheim ): Pilgrimage day: Whit Monday
• St. Cyriakus pilgrimage chapel ( Lindenberg (Pfalz) ): Pilgrimage day: August 8th (winegrowers' pilgrimage)
• Assumption of Mary ( Ludwigshafen - Oggersheim ): Pilgrimage days: Candlemas, Annunciation, Assumption, Birth of Mary, Immaculate Conception, St. Elisabeth, St. Joseph
• St. Nikolaus ( Neuleiningen ): Day of pilgrimage: Birth of the Virgin
• St. Anna Chapel ( Niederschlettenbach ): Pilgrimage day: Saturday after St. Anna Festival
• Strudel Peterkapelle ( Ormesheim ): three processions a year; Devotions on Marian feasts
• Dieterskirchel ( Rülzheim ): St. Theodard
• Kaiser- und Mariendom Assumption of Mary ( Speyer ): Pilgrimage day: Assumption of Mary (August 15)
• St. Martin ( St. Martin ): Pilgrimage: St. Martin (November 12)
• Maria Rosenberg ( Waldfischbach-Burgalben )

Regular events

The Diocesan Catholic Day takes place annually in summer. Until 2007 it was celebrated in Johanniskreuz in the Palatinate Forest. Because the trees in the area of ​​the meeting place are outdated and can endanger the participants, the Catholic Day has been held since 2008 at different locations in the diocese.

Church closings

Development of membership numbers

In the diocese of Speyer, as in other Catholic dioceses in Germany, the real estate portfolio has been reduced in recent years for cost reasons. Between 2005 and 2014, over 110 church buildings were sold in the Speyer diocese. Among other things, the following churches were profaned :

• Speyer , Church St. Guido : abandoned in 1991, sold 1,999 between 2008 and 2011 synagogue Beith Shalom rebuilt
• Zweibrücken , Niederauerbach district , St. Michael church : profaned on March 1, 2007
• Kaiserslautern , Christ König Church : profaned in autumn 2007, sold in 2008
• Kirchheimbolanden , St. Josef Church : built in 1973, profaned on November 22, 2009 due to structural damage, demolished in March 2010
• Marnheim , Church of the Heart of Jesus : built in 1966, profaned on December 7, 2018
• Homburg , chapel of the Kardinal-Wendel-Haus: profaned in 2012, house sold
• Landstuhl , Chapel Immaculate Conception in the former sister house: declared profane with effect from March 18, 2013, sale planned
• Bad Dürkheim , Hardenburg district , St. Elisabeth church : profaned on May 27, 2013
• Haßloch , St. Ulrich Church : profaned on September 16, 2017

It is also planned to profane and sell the house and church of St. Ludwig in Speyer .

See also

• List of the bishops of Speyer
• List of auxiliary bishops in Speyer
• List of canons of Speyer
• Roman Catholic Church in Germany

literature

• Hans Ammerich : The diocese of Speyer and its history . Seven volumes. Sadifa Media, Kehl am Rhein 1998-2006.
• Hans Ammerich (Ed.): Life pictures of the bishops of Speyer since the re-establishment of the diocese of Speyer in 1817/21. Celebration for the 60th birthday of His Excellency Dr. Anton Schlembach, Bishop of Speyer . Writings of the Diocesan Archives Speyer, Volume 15. Pilger-Verlag, Speyer 1992, ISBN 3-87637-044-2 .
• Hans Ammerich / Thomas Fandel / Richard Schultz: Church on the way: From reconstruction to the turn of the millennium. The diocese of Speyer and its bishops 1945–2000. Festschrift for the 70th birthday of Bishop Dr. Anton Schlembach . Pilger-Verlag, Speyer 2002, ISBN 3-87637-074-4 .
• Episcopal Ordinariate Speyer (ed.): Handbook of the Diocese of Speyer. Episcopal Ordinariate, Speyer 1991.
• Rolf Bohlender: Cathedral and Diocese of Speyer. A bibliography. 2nd added and revised Edition Palatinate State Library, Speyer 1979.
• Thomas Fandel: Denomination and National Socialism. Evangelical and Catholic pastors in the Palatinate 1930–1939. Publications of the Commission for Contemporary History, Series B, Volume 76, Schöningh-Verlag Paderborn u. a. 1997, ISBN 3-506-79981-9 .
• Andreas Urban Friedmann: The relations of the dioceses of Worms and Speyer to the Ottonian and Salian kings. Sources and treatises on the Middle Rhine Church History, Volume 72. Society for Middle Rhine Church History, Mainz 1994, ISBN 3-929135-04-3 .
• Franz Xaver Glasschröder : The archdeaconate in the Speier diocese during the Middle Ages. In: Archival Journal. NF Vol. 10, 1902, pp. 114-154, digitized.
• Georg Gresser : The diocese of Speyer until the end of the 11th century. Sources and treatises on the Middle Rhine Church history, Volume 89. Society for Middle Rhine Church History, Mainz 1998, ISBN 3-929135-21-3 .
• Hans Hausrath : Forest history of the right bank parts of the former diocese of Speyer . Springer, Berlin 1898.
• Hans-Josef Krey: Episcopal rule in the shadow of royalty. Studies on the history of the Speyer diocese in the late Salian and early Staufer times . European university publications: Series 3, History and its auxiliary sciences, Volume 703. Lang, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, New York, Paris and Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-631-30133-2 .
• Markus Lothar Lamm: The diocese and bishopric of Speyer under the government of Cardinal Franz Christoph von Hutten (1743-1770) . Sources and treatises on the Middle Rhine Church history, Volume 95. Society for Middle Rhine Church History, Mainz 1999, ISBN 3-929135-27-2 .
• Josef Meller, Johannes Friedrich Werling : The diocese of Speyer. A walk through its history (based on Ludwig Stamer's "Church History of the Palatinate" continued to the present day). Pilger-Verlag, Speyer 1987, ISBN 3-87637-030-2 .
• Franz Xaver Remling : History of the Bishops of Speyer , Volume 2. Mainz 1854. Digital scan.
• Karl-Albert Zölch: The bishops of Speyer at the time of Emperor Friedrich II. (Dissertation at the University of Heidelberg). Heidelberg 2014 PDF.

Web links

Commons : Diocese of Speyer  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of the Diocese of Speyer
• Entry on catholic-hierarchy.org (English)
• Der Pilger , church newspaper of the Speyer diocese

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Catholic Church in Germany. (PDF: 1,041 kB) Statistical data 2018. Secretariat of the German Bishops' Conference, July 19, 2019, p. 3 , accessed on July 19, 2019 . 
2. ↑ AP2019
3. ↑ ^{a b} Georg May : The right to worship in the Diocese of Mainz at the time of Bishop Joseph Ludwig Colmar (1802-1818). John Benjamin Publishing, 1987, ISBN 90-6032-289-4 , Volume 1, pp. 356-357 (digital scan).
4. Jump up ↑ Anne-Susann von Ehr: Name poker about the new shepherd . In: Die Rheinpfalz , Ludwigshafen, October 19, 2007.
5. ↑ Dean's offices and parishes. In: bistum-speyer.de. Episcopal Ordinariate Speyer, accessed on September 14, 2019 . 
6. ^ Necrologium Spirense. Library St. German Speyer, accessed on August 15, 2019 . 
7. ↑ Dioceses reveal their property. In: Deutsche Welle. October 16, 2013, accessed September 14, 2019 .  .
8. ^ Church communications. (PDF; 1,580.52 kB) In: Official Journal of the Lingen Association. May 29, 2008, p. 12 , accessed September 14, 2019 . 
9. ↑ The diocese separates from the diocese house of St. Ludwig - repairs and reconstruction beyond financial means. In: www.mrn-news.de. March 17, 2014, accessed August 15, 2019 . 
10. ↑ Another church becomes a synagogue. June 10, 2008, accessed September 14, 2019 . 
11. ^ Decree on the profanation of the Church of St. Michael in Zweibrücken-Niederauerbach. (PDF; 58.3 kB) In: Oberhirtliches Verordnungsblatt. Official journal for the Diocese of Speyer. Episcopal Ordinariate, February 6, 2007, p. 239 , accessed on August 15, 2019 . 
12. ↑ Jörg Lau: A church becomes a synagogue. In: blog.zeit.de. June 10, 2008, accessed August 15, 2019 . 
13. ^ Report: St. Josef. In: residenzbote.de. November 22, 2009, accessed September 14, 2019 . 
14. ^ Profanation of the branch church Herz Jesu in Marnheim. Profanation Decree. (PDF; 304.83 kB) In: Oberhirtliches Verordnungsblatt. Official journal for the Diocese of Speyer. Episcopal Ordinariate, December 14, 2018, p. 999 , accessed on August 15, 2019 . 
15. ^ Petra Derst: Sales contract signed. Kardinal-Wendel-Haus in Homburg changes hands on January 1st, 2013. In: The Pilgrim. The Vicar General of the Diocese of Speyer, December 13, 2012, accessed on August 15, 2019 . 
16. ^ Decree on the profanation of the St. Elisabeth branch church in Bad Dürkheim-Hardenburg. (PDF; 304.83 kB) In: Oberhirtliches Verordnungsblatt. Official journal for the Diocese of Speyer. Episcopal Ordinariate, May 22, 2012, pp. 452f. , accessed on August 15, 2019 . 
17. ↑ Decree on the profanation of the chapel in the former Landstuhl sister house. (PDF; 304.83 kB) In: Oberhirtliches Verordnungsblatt. Official journal for the Diocese of Speyer. Episcopal Ordinariate, May 22, 2012, p. 452 , accessed on August 15, 2019 . 
18. ^ Karl-Heinz Wiesemann: Profanierungsdekret. (PDF; 137.93 kB) September 16, 2017, accessed on August 15, 2019 .