Archdiocese of Kaunas
Archdiocese of Kaunas | |
Basic data | |
---|---|
Country | Lithuania |
Diocesan bishop | Kęstutis Kėvalas |
Emeritus diocesan bishop |
Sigitas Cardinal Tamkevičius SJ Lionginas Virbalas SJ |
surface | 8,750 km² |
Parishes | 92 (2016 / AP 2017 ) |
Residents | 655,000 (2016 / AP 2017 ) |
Catholics | 524,000 (2016 / AP 2017 ) |
proportion of | 80% |
Diocesan priest | 106 (2016 / AP 2017 ) |
Religious priest | 18 (2016 / AP 2017 ) |
Catholics per priest | 4,226 |
Friars | 19 (2016 / AP 2017 ) |
Religious sisters | 177 (2016 / AP 2017 ) |
rite | Roman rite |
Liturgical language | Lithuanian |
cathedral | St. Peter and Paul |
Website | kaunas.lcn.lt |
Suffragan dioceses |
Šiauliai Telšiai Vilkaviškis |
The Archdiocese of Kaunas ( Latin : Archidioecesis Kaunensis , lit. Kauno arkivyskupija ) is a Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Central Lithuania with its seat in Kaunas .
history
Since the Christianization of today's Lithuania by the Teutonic Order and by the Polish-Lithuanian Union of Krewo (Hedwig von Anjou) in the 14th century, Christians have lived in the western part of Samogitia . In 1417 the diocese of Samogitia was founded, whose bishop's seat was in Miedniki , as determined by the Council of Constance . The diocese was dissolved in 1798, but rebuilt in 1849.
The church provinces were reorganized a few years after the establishment of an independent Lithuanian state in 1918, as well as the wars with the Soviet Union and Poland, which led to the division of Central Lithuania to Poland in 1922, so that Kaunas became the interim capital of Lithuania.
The foundation of the Archdiocese of Kaunas and the associated Lithuanian Church Province was on April 4, 1926 in an apostolic constitution of Pope Pius XI. announced. In addition to the archdiocese of Kaunas, the suffragan dioceses Vilkaviškis and Telšiai belonged to it. In addition, the ecclesiastical province of Vilnius was founded for the parts of Lithuania belonging to Poland, to which an archdiocese and two suffragans were also assigned.
After the reorganization of the Lithuanian ecclesiastical province by the Holy See in 1991, two metropolises emerged, those of Vilnius and Kaunas. In 1997 the new diocese of Šiauliai was formed, to which some northern parishes of the Archdiocese of Kaunas had been assigned. Since then, the dioceses of Kaunas, Šiauliai , Telšiai and Vilkaviškis have formed the ecclesiastical province of Kaunas.
Dignitaries
- see: List of Archbishops of Kaunas
- Auxiliary bishops
- Vladas Michelevičius (1924-2008)
- Jonas Ivanauskas (* 1960)
- Algirdas Jurevičius (* 1972)
See also
Web links
- Official website (German, English, Lithuanian)
- Entry on the Archdiocese of Kaunas on catholic-hierarchy.org (English)