Diocese of Eichstätt

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Diocese of Eichstätt
Erzbistum Freiburg Erzbistum Bamberg Erzbistum Berlin Erzbistum Hamburg Erzbistum Köln Erzbistum München und Freising Erzbistum Paderborn Bistum Aachen Bistum Augsburg Bistum Dresden-Meißen Bistum Eichstätt Bistum Erfurt Bistum Essen Bistum Fulda Bistum Görlitz Bistum Hildesheim Bistum Limburg Bistum Magdeburg Bistum Mainz Bistum Mainz Bistum Münster Bistum Münster Bistum Osnabrück Bistum Passau Bistum Regensburg Diözese Rottenburg-Stuttgart Bistum Speyer Bistum Trier Bistum Trier Bistum WürzburgMap of the Diocese of Eichstätt
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Basic data
Country Germany
Ecclesiastical province Bamberg
Metropolitan bishopric Archdiocese of Bamberg
Diocesan bishop Gregor Maria Hanke OSB
Vicar General Michael Huber MSC
surface 6,025 km²
Dean's offices 8 (December 31, 2016)
Parishes 274 (December 31, 2018)
Residents 984,127 (December 31, 2018)
Catholics 392,434 (December 31, 2018)
proportion of 39.9%
Diocesan priest 294 (December 31, 2018)
Religious priest 44 (December 31, 2018)
Catholics per priest 1,161
Permanent deacons 46 (December 31, 2018)
Friars 59 (December 31, 2018)
Religious sisters 400 (December 31, 2018)
rite Roman rite
Liturgical language Latin , German
cathedral High Cathedral "To Our Lady"
address Episcopal Ordinariate
Postfach 1354
Luitpoldstr. 2
D-85067 Eichstätt
Website www.bistum-eichstaett.de
Ecclesiastical province
Erzbistum Freiburg Erzbistum Bamberg Erzbistum Berlin Erzbistum Hamburg Erzbistum Köln Erzbistum München und Freising Erzbistum Paderborn Bistum Aachen Bistum Augsburg Bistum Dresden-Meißen Bistum Eichstätt Bistum Erfurt Bistum Essen Bistum Fulda Bistum Görlitz Bistum Hildesheim Bistum Limburg Bistum Magdeburg Bistum Mainz Bistum Mainz Bistum Münster Bistum Münster Bistum Osnabrück Bistum Passau Bistum Regensburg Diözese Rottenburg-Stuttgart Bistum Speyer Bistum Trier Bistum Trier Bistum WürzburgMap of the ecclesiastical province of Bamberg
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The diocese of Eichstätt ( Latin : Dioecesis Eystettensis ) is a Catholic diocese in the Free State of Bavaria , which, as a suffragan diocese, belongs to the church province of the Archdiocese of Bamberg .

history

Beginnings in the Middle Ages

The diocese of Eichstätt goes back to the middle of the 8th century. The exact year of the foundation is not known, because a certificate of incorporation is missing. In 740 the Anglo-Saxon monk Willibald came to Eichstätt and was ordained a priest there by his relative Bonifatius . In 741 Willibald was ordained bishop by Bonifatius in Sülzenbrücken near Erfurt. Presumably he was ordained bishop of Erfurt first, but when this diocese did not come about, he returned to Eichstätt as bishop at an unknown time and founded a monastery there. Both dates, the episcopal ordination and the final settlement in Eichstätt, marked the beginnings of the diocese. Willibald received support in expanding the diocese primarily from his brother Wunibald , who built another monastery in the nearby Heidenheim am Hahnenkamm, and from his sister Walburga , who took over the management of the family-owned monastery in Heidenheim after Wunibald's death .

Since Willibald took part in the Synod of Attigny as "Willibaldus episcopus de monasterio Achistadi", it is assumed that he did not establish a proper diocese, but, as monastery bishop, took over the organization of the region as an outpost of the Bavarian duchy to the north. The nobleman Suidger, who had made extensive property available in the "regio Eichstätt", was a confidante of Duke Odilo , who had opposed the Carolingian house keepers Pippin and Karlmann . The diocese of Eichstätt was only established after Odilo's defeat and served, among other things, as a Franconian outpost against the advance of the Bavarian duchy to the north.

Around the year 880 the bones of the sister of the diocese founder, Saint Walburga , were transferred to Eichstätt and in 1035 a Benedictine monastery was founded, which still exists today. As Viktor II, Bishop Gebhard I became one of the few German popes. The diocese of Eichstätt belonged to the ecclesiastical province of Mainz . From the 13th century to 1802, the Eichstätter bishops were also princes in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation .

Gebhard's successor, Bishop Gundekar II , pushed the development of the diocese forward, especially through numerous church consecrations . In 1305 the powerful family of the Counts of Hirschberg died out. A large part of the inheritance went to the Eichstätter bishops, who thus had a contiguous territory on the Altmühl , the "lower monastery". The "Upper Abbey" comprised various smaller territories in what is now Middle Franconia.

Coat of arms of the diocese of Eichstätt
Eichstatt Cathedral

Reformation and modern times

With the appointment of Johann III. von Eych 1445 began a period of humanistic reform. Eichstätt developed into a center of early German humanism with close intellectual connections to the neighboring centers in Nuremberg , Landshut and Augsburg . These reform efforts were continued under Johann's successor Wilhelm von Reichenau . The expression was also a blossoming of the building policy in the diocese.

The Reformation found its way into more than half of the diocese area and led to the dissolution of numerous monasteries.

The first major phase of the persecution of so-called witches falls during the reign of Prince-Bishop Martin von Schaumberg (1560-1590), especially in the Upper Monastery and in the year 1590. This includes at least 24 arrests of women, of which 23 were verifiably executed. During the reign of Prince-Bishop Johann Konrad von Gemmingen (1595–1612) at least 20 women were sentenced to death and justified in the lower monastery for witchcraft in a witch trial . By far the largest phase of witch persecution in the Eichstätt Monastery, in which there were also arrests and executions of men, took place from 1613 to 1630 under Prince-Bishop Johann Christoph von Westerstetten , who was therefore also called "Witch Bishop ". During his tenure, at least 199 people were charged with witchcraft, of whom at least 176 (150 women and 26 men) were known to have been executed. Similar intense persecutions of witches as in his reign can only be proven in southern Germany in the series of witch trials of the Bamberg and Würzburg monasteries and in Ellwangen .

Johann Christoph von Westerstetten vigorously pursued the Counter Reformation . 1614 he summoned the Jesuits to Eichstatt, led the diocese in 1617 of the Catholic League for and won half of the now Protestant areas of his diocese back to Catholicism back.

At the beginning of the 17th century, alongside the respective bishops, it was primarily the Jesuits and Capuchins who rebuilt Catholic life. In Eichstätt and also in large areas of the diocese a new form of baroque religiosity emerged, which also triggered lively building activity. From 1658 Jews were only allowed to settle in the area of ​​the Hochstift in Cronheim .

Recent history and present

In 1802 the prince-bishopric was secularized by the electorate of Bavaria . In 1861 the diocese of Eichstätt had 23 monasteries, 17 deaneries, 202 parishes, 410 priests and 154,915 Catholics.

Diocese structure after 1945

Due to the influx of numerous expellees , the confessional composition of many regions of the diocese changed after the Second World War. The increase in population led to the establishment of a number of new parishes and pastoral care offices until the 1980s. In 1980 the Catholic Comprehensive University Eichstätt was elevated to a Catholic University , the only one in the entire German-speaking area.

Financial scandal 2018

Early February 2018 it was announced that the diocese against the former deputy finance director of its financial management and one other criminal charges on suspicion of illegal practices in the investment had paid. The for economic criminal matters relevant focus prosecutor then Munich II confirmed the operation. The two accused are in custody . The investigators suspect a damage in the "mid double-digit million range ". The diocese said it was about " property endangering , unsecured loans totaling around 60 million US dollars ", that is the equivalent of around 48.2 million euros. The then finance director of the diocese resigned as a result of the affair. In May 2018 it became known that the financial scandal would cause only a fraction of the damage originally feared for the diocese. Accordingly, only a secured financial loss of at least around one million dollars was assumed. On February 5, 2019, the law firm commissioned by Bishop Hanke to carry out the investigation presented an interim report.

Bishop Hanke

Bishops

Gregor Maria Hanke has been the 82nd bishop of the Eichstätt diocese since 2006 . His predecessor was Walter Mixa , who held the office from 1996 to 2005.

Commitment to the preservation of creation

Within the Catholic Church, the diocese is regarded as a pioneer in church environmental management. The first parish of the Holy Cross in Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate in Germany was certified according to EMAS II (currently 8 institutions). In 2001, environmental guidelines were adopted as the first building blocks of a diocesan Agenda 21 and a large number of facilities such as the Pfünz Castle youth center , the Fiegenstall educational center, numerous Caritas facilities and the Plankstetten Abbey were ecologically converted.

These efforts were continued with the creation of an integrated climate protection concept for the entire diocese of Eichstätt in 2011 and 2012. With this concept, the diocese of Eichstätt has reliable data and the opportunity to develop CO 2 savings targets on this basis . Gregor Maria Hanke has stipulated to reduce CO 2 emissions by 25% by 2020 and 50% by 2030 . A comprehensive package of measures was decided upon for implementation.

With Bishop Gregor Maria Hanke, the former abbot of the “green” monastery in Plankstetten , who represents an “ecology of the heart” and is a resolute opponent of green genetic engineering and a proponent of organic agriculture , a recognized “ecologist” became bishop of a German diocese for the first time .

General data

Development of membership numbers

Dean's offices

Churches

Pilgrimage sites

Diocesan calendar

In the diocese of Eichstätt, the regional calendar for the German-speaking area is supplemented by the following celebrations (followed by the rank and the liturgical color ).

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

literature

  • Johann Kaspar Bundschuh : Eichstätt, the diocese . In: Geographical Statistical-Topographical Lexicon of Franconia . tape 1 : A-egg . Verlag der Stettinische Buchhandlung, Ulm 1799, DNB  790364298 , OCLC 833753073 , Sp. 744-759 ( digitized version ).
  • Rita Haub : Documentation in the Diocese of Eichstätt up to the middle of the 13th century . Diss., University of Munich 1993.
  • Wolfgang Wüst : Sovranità principesco-vescovile nella prima età moderna. Un confronto tra le situazioni al di qua e al di là delle Alpi: Augusta, Bressanone, Costanza e Trento - Princely canons in the early modern era. A comparison of southern and northern Alpine conditions in Augsburg, Brixen, Eichstätt, Konstanz and Trento , in: Annali dell 'Istituto storico italo-germanico in Trento - Yearbook of the Italian-German historical institute in Trient 30 (2004) Bologna 2005, ISBN 88- 15-10729-0 , pp. 285-332.

See also

Web links

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

Footnotes

  1. ↑ New Vicar General for the Diocese of Eichstätt: Father Michael Huber succeeds Isidor Vollnhals. Retrieved December 22, 2018 .
  2. ↑ 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 .
  3. ↑ AP2019
  4. ^ Leo Hintermayr: History of the Diocese of Eichstätt at a Glance. Diocese of Eichstätt, 2006, accessed on February 19, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Jürgen Nowak Dendorfer (Ed.): Reform and early humanism in Eichstätt Bishop Johann von Eych (1445–1464). Regensburg 2015. Monika Fink-Lang: Investigations into the Eichstätter intellectual life in the age of humanism. Regensburg 1985.
  6. ↑ see HJ Wolf, History of the Witches Trials, Hamburg 1998, p. 251
  7. ^ Joseph Heyberger, Chr. Schmitt, v. Wachter: Topographical-statistical manual of the Kingdom of Bavaria with an alphabetical local dictionary . In: K. Bayer. Statistical Bureau (Ed.): Bavaria. Regional and folklore of the Kingdom of Bavaria . tape 5 . Literary-artistic establishment of the JG Cotta'schen Buchhandlung, Munich 1867, p. 13 , urn : nbn: de: bvb: 12-bsb10374496-4 ( digitized version ).
  8. ↑ Diocese of Eichstätt: Apparently church millions embezzled. In: tagesschau.de . February 5, 2018, accessed February 9, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Bern./KNA: Diocese of Eichstätt loses millions of dollars. In: FAZ.net . February 5, 2018, accessed October 13, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Financial scandal in the diocese of Eichstätt with only a fraction of the feared damage. In: zeit.de . May 9, 2018, archived from the original on May 10, 2018 ; accessed on February 9, 2019 .
  11. ^ Daniel Deckers: Financial scandal: How the diocese of Eichstätt lost money in America. In: FAZ.net . February 5, 2018, accessed February 9, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Katja Riedel ( WDR ): Test report on the Eichstätt diocese: "A wet biotope for criminals". In: tagesschau.de . February 5, 2019, accessed February 9, 2019 .
  13. ^ Matthias Drobinski , Nicolas Richter, Katja Riedel: Financial scandal in the diocese: accounting with the Eichstätt system. In: sueddeutsche.de . February 5, 2019, accessed February 9, 2019 .
  14. ^ Ulrich Wastl, Martin Pusch: Financial scandal in the Diocese of Eichstätt - causes, responsibilities, consequences and recommendations. (PDF; 633 KByte) In: bistum-eichstaett.de. February 3, 2019, accessed on February 9, 2019 (test report from the law firm Westpfahl, Spilker, Wastl).
  15. ^ Ulrich Wastl, Martin Pusch: Financial scandal in the Diocese of Eichstätt - causes, responsibilities, consequences and recommendations. (PDF; 162 KByte) Short version for the press conference on February 5, 2019. In: bistum-eichstaett.de. February 3, 2019, accessed February 9, 2019 .
  16. ^ Parish Holy Cross - Neumarkt id OPf. In: heiligkreuz.neumarkt.de. Retrieved February 9, 2019 .
  17. ↑ Climate offensive 2030 - climate protection concept for the diocese of Eichstätt. (PDF; 909 kB) Diocese of Eichstätt, January 2013, accessed on February 9, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Climate offensive 2030: Integrated climate protection concept of the Diocese of Eichstätt. Diocese of Eichstätt, accessed on February 9, 2019 (measures to implement the climate protection concept).