Diocese of Mainz

Diocese of Mainz
Basic data
Country	Germany
Ecclesiastical province	Freiburg
Metropolitan bishopric	Archdiocese of Freiburg
Diocesan bishop	Peter Kohlgraf
Auxiliary bishop	Udo Bentz
Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus	Francis Eisenbach
Vicar General	Udo Bentz
surface	7,692 km²
Dean's offices	20 (31.12.2012 / AP2014 )
Parishes	303 (December 31, 2018)
Residents	2,966,772 (December 31, 2017)
Catholics	718,715 (December 31, 2018)
proportion of	24.2%
Diocesan priest	378 (December 31, 2017)
Religious priest	54 (December 31, 2017)
Catholics per priest	1,664
Permanent deacons	124 (December 31, 2012 / AP2014 )
Friars	72 (December 31, 2017)
Religious sisters	380 (December 31, 2017)
rite	Roman rite
Liturgical language	German and Latin
cathedral	Mainz Cathedral
address	P.O. Box 1560 55005 Mainz Bischofsplatz 2 55116 Mainz
Website	www.bistummainz.de
Ecclesiastical province

The Diocese of Mainz ( Latin Dioecesis Moguntina ) is a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany and belongs to the Upper Rhine Church Province .

Location and importance

Today's diocese of Mainz is located in parts of the federal states of Hesse , Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg . It is mainly divided into two areas, which are separated from each other by areas of the city of Frankfurt am Main belonging to the diocese of Limburg ; however, the Frankfurt districts of Harheim , Nieder-Erlenbach and Nieder-Eschbach do not belong to the diocese of Limburg, but to the diocese of Mainz. The southern part around Mainz is located in Rheinhessen with the former bishopric of Worms and the south mainischen part of Hesse, which largely with the former province of Starkenburg is identical. The northern part of the diocese of Mainz essentially comprises the Wetterau and Vogelsberg with the city of Gießen . In addition, the Bad Wimpfen exclave in Baden-Württemberg belongs to the diocese further south-east . It thus includes all areas that belonged to the Grand Duchy of Hesse in the 19th century .

The diocese can look back on 1,600 years of history, around a thousand of which as an archbishopric. The Archbishops of Mainz were among the most influential men of the Holy Roman Empire as electors and imperial chancellor .

Mainz bears the old title The Holy See of Mainz, special true daughter of the Roman Church (lat. Sancta sedes Moguntina ecclesiae Romanae specialis vera filia ).

history

→ Main article : History of the diocese of Mainz

The beginnings of the diocese in Roman and Frankish times

The first Christians in Mainz may have existed as early as the 2nd century. The Lyon bishop Irenäus mentions Christians who live in the "two Germania". Mainz was then the capital of the province Germania superior , which is why it is conceivable that Irenäus refers to a community located there. However, there was no evidence of an episcopal parish for this time.

Mainz bishops are only conceivable from the 4th century. However, names are only uncertainly passed down, they come from a list that was written down later and which was then supplemented several times. The first bishop to be identified by name outside this list was the Aquitaine Sidonius , who died after 580 and can be assigned to the Franconian period of the diocese. Sidonius was in fact the city lord of Mainz and led the metropolis, which had been badly shaken by the migration, to a new period of prosperity. The St. Martin's patronage in the cathedral goes back to him . Until today is St. Martin of Tours patron of the diocese.

Church life in Mainz and in the empire soon began to decline again during the Frankish rule. In the 7th and 8th centuries, therefore, monks from Ireland and Scotland set out on missions on the mainland. A generation later, the most important representative of the Anglo-Saxon mission , Bonifatius from Wessex set out for the Frankish Empire. He soon became a leading figure in the Frankish Church. Around 745 he became bishop of Mainz; although he himself was archbishop (without a seat, since 732), Mainz remained a diocese.

In 753 Boniface went on a missionary trip and left the leadership of the diocese to his pupil Lullus , whom he had made choir bishop. When Boniface was killed during his journey in 754, Lullus succeeded him as Bishop of Mainz. In the course of his tenure, Lullus succeeded in raising his diocese to an archdiocese (780/82). As a suffragan he received at least the dioceses of Worms, Speyer , Würzburg and Eichstätt . Until 973, the dioceses of Constance , Strasbourg , Paderborn , Halberstadt , Verden , Hildesheim , Chur , Augsburg , Havelberg and Brandenburg (both until 968), Prague and Olmütz were added, which made Mainz the largest church province north of the Alps.

middle Ages

Coat of arms of the diocese of Mainz

The Mainz Cathedral on Corpus Christi 2007

After the empire was divided into Eastern Franconia (later Germany ) and Western Franconia (later France ), the Archbishops of Mainz played an important role in the structure of the empire. The East Franconian King Heinrich I appointed the Archbishop of Mainz Heriger in 922 as the archkapellan of the court chapel. The archbishop was thus responsible for the entire clergy at the royal court. Otto I , who had been anointed and crowned by the Archbishop of Mainz Hildebert , based his government even more on the bishops of the empire, whom he entrusted with high imperial offices. From this time on, the Archbishop of Mainz was not only the chief shepherd of his diocese, but also the imperial prince.

In 955, the Archbishop of Mainz, Wilhelm, called himself servant of the “Holy See of Mainz” for the first time, a title that the diocese still holds today. In 965, like some of his predecessors, he was appointed arch chaplain. The office, which was later called the Arch Chancellery for Germany , remained associated with the Mainz bishopric until the end of the empire.

In 975 Willigis , who served at the emperor's court, became archbishop of Mainz. His pontificate is of great importance for the Mainz Church in several ways. On the one hand, Willigis, who saw himself as a representative of the Pope north of the Alps, had a cathedral built in his episcopal city , which was very large by the standards at the time , which was to announce the size and importance of the Mainz church and which still shapes the cityscape today. On the other hand, Willigis was also a skilled politician. In 983 he achieved through the Veronese donation at the Reichstag of Verona from Otto II the donation of larger lands on the Nahe and in the Rheingau. In these territories, the archbishop was now sovereign, from which the later electoral state developed .

The role of Reich politician fell to each of the Archbishops of Mainz, at least in the Middle Ages. This was already due to the fact that in terms of succession to the throne, a blood law could never prevail in the empire, so the new king always had to be elected by the princes. The Archbishop of Mainz belonged to the circle of seven electors, to whom this right to vote was ultimately granted exclusively. He was formally considered the highest-ranking imperial prince who had to convene and lead the election. As such, he was also a natural mediator between the emperor and the pope during the many conflicts between the empire and the Sacerdotium.

Modern times and the Reformation

Albrecht of Brandenburg

The Reformation represented a decisive turning point in the history of the diocese . Although the church's need for reform had long been recognized, concrete efforts to implement it failed to materialize. Martin Luther's protest against the ecclesiastical indulgence trade in 1517 was enough to set the Reformation in motion, which led to the division of Western Christianity. The then Archbishop of Mainz, Albrecht von Brandenburg , was not uninvolved in this, as he was one of the great promoters of the indulgence trade, on which he was financially dependent, due to the work of the Dominican Johann Tetzel .

The Reformation and Counter-Reformation led to considerable conflicts, which also resulted in feuds and wars. The Archdiocese of Mainz lost a large part of its monasteries and the ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the Hessian- Thuringian area, which became a Protestant regional church of the Hessian landgrave. Even in the south, where the Mainz church extended over the territory of the Protestant Electoral Palatinate , the ecclesiastical jurisdiction could not be maintained. The archbishopric itself only remained Catholic because the Mainz cathedral chapter always chose a Catholic candidate for the bishops' elections at that time.

The Thirty Years War brought further devastation to the Archdiocese. However, Johann Philipp von Schönborn , who was elected archbishop in 1647 , managed to consolidate the archbishopric again. Not only did he take part in the peace negotiations in Münster and Osnabrück , he also implemented the resolutions of the Trento Reform Council in the diocese.

Baroque and Enlightenment

Johann Philipp von Schönborn can already be counted among the baroque princes , under whom the city of Mainz experienced a new heyday. In the diocese, the archbishops tried to strengthen the Catholic position, which was favored by the fact that the Electoral Palatinate got a Catholic prince again in 1685. This went hand in hand with the construction of many new churches, especially during the time of Lothar Franz von Schönborn .

During the Enlightenment , which under the pontificate of Emmerich Joseph von Breidbach zu Bürresheim gained in influence in the archbishopric and electoral state, a far-reaching reform process began, which primarily affected schools and religious orders at the diocese level. The ideas of the Enlightenment led, if not alone, to the revolution in France, which also spread to the Holy Roman Empire . This development eventually led to the downfall of the archdiocese.

End of the archbishopric and the electoral state

The Archdiocese of Mainz, the largest diocese of the old empire (black border line), and the Diocese of Mainz since 1821 (yellow areas)

The old forces of the empire saw the revolution as a threat and banded against France. The Archbishop of Mainz and Elector Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal also took part in the coalition. On April 20, 1792, France declared Austria, more precisely Louis XVI. as King of France Franz II. as King of Hungary and Bohemia (here: Franz I./Ferenc), the war. This day marks the beginning of the First Coalition War . The French soon managed to advance towards Mainz. They conquered the city in October 1792, but lost it again to the coalition in March 1793. In 1797, however, France was finally able to assert itself. The areas on the left bank of the Rhine were ceded to France. After Napoleon came to power in 1799, the French church was reorganized. From the remains of the dioceses of Worms, Speyer and Metz , Napoleon Bonaparte formed the new diocese of Mainz in 1802, which was now assigned to the archdiocese of Mechelen . Joseph Ludwig Colmar became bishop . The Mainz electoral dignity and the offices of the primate of as well as arch chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire for Germany became the owner of the diocese of Regensburg for all time through the imperial law of 1803, which was based on the imperial deputation main conclusion and which thus also brought about the settlement of the Mainz church province transfer.

The diocese of Mainz from 1814

Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler

After Napoleon's defeat , the 1797 assignments were reversed. The necessary church reorganization was the subject of tough negotiations. The diocese of Mainz was established on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt and assigned to the Archdiocese of Freiburg as a suffragan seat. The Mainz church boundaries drawn with the circumscription bull Provida solersque in 1821 still coincide with the area of ​​the former Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt. This is why the city of Bad Wimpfen in Baden-Württemberg today - until 1945 the exclave of the people's state of Hesse , which followed the Grand Duchy - is part of the Diocese of Mainz.

Throughout the 19th century, the history of the diocese was primarily determined by conflicts between church and state, which ultimately culminated in the Kulturkampf . In the late 19th century, the Bishop of Mainz, Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler, achieved supra-diocesan importance in the social debate of the Catholic Church (social encyclical Leo XIII ).

present

Membership numbers 1950–2016

At the diocese level, the 20th century was primarily shaped by German history. The Mainz Church, in the form of Vicar General Philipp Jakob Mayer, distanced itself from National Socialism at an early stage , but this did not become a uniform line of the German episcopate. Institutions and persons of the diocese were repeatedly the target of anti-church policies of the National Socialist government. The war finally caused great damage throughout the diocese. After 1945, a large number of displaced persons had to be integrated, which led to new church buildings and parishes being founded.

From an ecclesiastical point of view, the Second Vatican Council was particularly important, and it has shaped ecclesiastical order and teaching to this day.

For years, declining church tax revenues and the number of Catholics as well as a shortage of priests led to a fundamental structural process in the diocese. On the basis of a pastoral care concept, parishes will in future form parish associations and parish groups as supra-parish associations. The independence of the parishes is preserved in both cases. Church closings are currently not planned in the diocese of Mainz. A first step in this direction was the sale of the Heilig Geist community center in the episcopal city itself. The 40-year-old concrete building had problems with the fabric of the building and should have been renovated for around 600,000 euros. Subsequently, the Heilig Geist community center was handed over to a Coptic community in 2014.

Since 2004 the diocese has been in a process of renewal, “living parishes in renewed pastoral units”. This diocese process takes place on a broad basis with the participation of all concerned. Parishes are encouraged to enter into binding cooperation in parish associations and parish groups.

organization structure

Bishop and cathedral chapter

According to Article 14 of the Reich Concordat of 1933, which is still in force today, the occupation of the bishop's chair and the composition of the Mainz cathedral chapter are based on the regulations of the Baden Concordat of 1932.

Territory structure

Dean's office	Number of Catholics (% of total population)	Parishes / parish curatios / rectorates	Independent parish groups / associations
Alsfeld	15,000 (16%)	3/2/8	2/0
Alzey-Gau-Bickelheim	23,000 (26%)	22/0/0	7/0
Bergstrasse-Mitte	40,000 (37%)	5/6/0	1/3
Bergstrasse-East	30,000 (35%)	10/7/1	5/1
Bergstrasse-West	38,500 (42%)	8/4/1	5/0
Bingen	40,000 (40%)	17/2/1	2/4
Darmstadt	57,000 (21%)	2/17/0	3/2
The castle	38,500 (30%)	6/9/0	5/2
Dreieich	34,000 (21%)	1/9/0	0/3
Erbach	18,000 (18%)	3/9/0	4/1
to water	37,500 (16%)	3/1/0	1/3
Mainz city	89,000 (39%)	17/16/0	4/7
Mainz-South	31,000 (39%)	15/1/0	6/0
Offenbach	31,500 (26%)	3/8/0	1/3
Rodgau	53,000 (38%)	10/5/0	4/2
Ruesselsheim	56,500 (23%)	4/16/0	4/5
Seligenstadt	32,000 (50%)	7/4/0	3/2
Wetterau-Ost	22,000 (15%)	3/10/1	2/3
Wetterau-West	54,000 (26%)	13/9/3	7/2
Worms	35,000 (27%)	18/5/0	9/0
Status: 2009, source: Schematism of the Diocese of Mainz 2009.

The diocese of Mainz covers a total of 7692 square kilometers. It is divided into 20 deaneries , which in turn are divided into 136 pastoral units. These parish associations or parish groups include all 335 parishes and other pastoral care offices of the diocese (for this and all of the following information as of 2007). Pastoral units above the parish level have been introduced in many dioceses in the course of a far-reaching structural change in the Catholic Church in Germany, whereby the constitution of these units was determined by particular law, i.e. it may differ from diocese to diocese. In the diocese of Mainz, a parish group is structured in such a way that several parishes are united under the direction of a pastor. The parishes retain their personality under church and state church law. A pastoral team and a pastoral council are attached to the pastor. Parish associations, on the other hand, are associations of several parishes, each with its own pastor. Several parish groups can also come together to form parish associations. At the level of the parish association, a pastoral council and a conference of full-time employees will be set up, which will decide on the cooperation between the communities. It is therefore also possible for two parish groups to form a parish association.

Parishes of Catholics of other mother tongues

The parishes of Catholics of other mother tongues are personal parishes . There are the following parishes in the diocese:

• Italian municipalities : Bensheim (for the dean's offices Bergstrasse, Erbach and Worms), Darmstadt (the dean's offices in Darmstadt, Dieburg and the Erzhausen branch in the dean's office in Dreieich), Dreieich-Sprendlingen (for the dean's office in Dreieich and the parishes of Ober-Roden and Urberach), Gießen (for the Deaneries Alsfeld, Gießen, Wetterau-Ost, Wetterau-West), Groß-Gerau (for the parishes Astheim, Biebesheim, Büttelborn, Geinsheim, Gernsheim, Goddelau, Groß-Gerau, Nauheim), Mainz (for the Deaneries Alzey- Gau-Bickelheim, Bingen, Mainz-Stadt, Mainz-Süd), Offenbach (for the deaneries Offenbach, Rodgau, Seligenstadt), Rüsselsheim (for the parishes Bischofsheim, Ginsheim-Gustavsburg, Mörfelden, Raunheim, Rüsselsheim, Haßloch, Königsstädten, Walldorf)
• Croatian municipalities : Darmstadt (for the deaneries Bergstrasse, Darmstadt, Dieburg, Erbach, Worms), Gießen (for the deaneries Alsfeld, Gießen, Wetterau-Ost and -West), Mainz (for the deaneries Alzey-Gau-Bickelheim, Bingen, Mainz -Stadt and Mainz-Süd), Offenbach (for the Deanery Dreieich, Offenbach, Rodgau, Seligenstadt) and Rüsselsheim (for the Deanery Rüsselsheim).
• Polish municipalities : Mainz (for the deaneries Alzey-Gau-Bickelheim, Bergstrasse-Mitte, -Ost, -West, Bingen, Dieburg, Erbach, Mainz-Stadt, Mainz-Süd, Rüsselsheim, Worms), Offenbach (for the deaneries Alsfeld, Darmstadt, Dreieich, Gießen, Offenbach, Rodgau, Seligenstadt, Wetterau-Ost and -West)
• Portuguese municipalities : Darmstadt (for the deaneries Bergstrasse and Darmstadt), Groß-Umstadt (for the deaneries Dieburg and Erbach), Mainz (for the deaneries Alzey-Gau-Bickelheim, Bingen, Mainz-Stadt, Mainz-Süd, Worms), Offenbach (for the dean's offices in Alsfeld, Dreieich, Gießen, Offenbach, Rodgau, Rüsselsheim, Seligenstadt, Wetterau-Ost, Wetterau-West)
• Spanish municipalities : Darmstadt (for the deaneries Bergstrasse, Darmstadt, Dieburg, Erbach), Gießen (for the deaneries Alsfeld, Gießen, Wetterau-Ost), Mainz (for the deaneries Alzey-Gau-Bickelheim, Bingen, Mainz-Stadt, Mainz- Süd, Worms), Offenbach (for the Deanery Dreieich, Offenbach, Rodgau, Seligenstadt, Wetterau-West), Rüsselsheim (for the Deanery Rüsselsheim)

Diocesan bodies

Cathedral and Diocesan Archives

Chapel in the Rochussift with the cathedral and diocesan archives

The cathedral and diocesan archive is responsible for archiving the writings of the episcopal ordinariate and other institutions of the diocese.

Martinus Library

The Martinus Library in the Arnsburger Hof in the old town of Mainz is the scientific diocesan library in the seminary of the diocese of Mainz.

education

Catholic private schools

Modern stainless steel sculpture of Saint Martin by Albert Sous in front of the Martinus School Mainz in Weißliliengasse at the Fürstenbergerhof School

The main educational institution of the diocese is the Catholic University of Mainz . In addition to the diocese of Mainz, the (arch) dioceses of Cologne, Limburg, Speyer and Trier are also shareholders of this university. There are also other schools such as the Edith Stein School in Darmstadt, the Marienschule Offenbach , the Liebfrauenschule in Bensheim and the all-day high school Theresianum Mainz, the Episcopal Willigis High School , the evening high school Ketteler-Kolleg Mainz and the Episcopal Willigis Realschule , all in Mainz .

Institutions at state universities

The diocese maintains three institutions at state universities. The most important of these is the Catholic Theological Faculty at the University of Mainz . In addition, there is the Institute for Catholic Theology and its didactics at the University of Giessen , which is part of the Department of History and Cultural Studies. There is an institute for theology and social ethics at the Technical University of Darmstadt.

Bildungswerk

The education center of the Diocese of Mainz promotes "... church adult education in the diocese from the parish to the diocese level ...". The educational work is u. a. Member of the Catholic Adult Education Hessen - State Working Group .

Other educational institutions

• Institute for Church Music Mainz : Training center for Catholic church musicians

Culture and sights

Important churches

St. Stephan in Mainz

Cathedral and Papal Basilicas

• Mainz Cathedral
• Worms Cathedral
• Basilica of St. Martin in Bingen
• St. Marcellinus and Peter in Seligenstadt
• Basilica and former abbey church of Ilbenstadt

Other well-known churches

• St. Stephan zu Mainz with Chagall window
• St. Ludwig zu Darmstadt , domed building of classicism
• Pfaffen-Schwabenheim monastery church
• Church of Our Lady in Worms
• see also church building in the diocese of Mainz

Episcopal Cathedral and Diocesan Museum

The Episcopal Cathedral and Diocesan Museum Mainz is located next to the cathedral . With over 2000 square meters of exhibition space, the Mainz Cathedral Museum is one of the largest museums of its kind in Germany. In the historic cathedral cloister, the medieval vaulted halls, in the Nikolaus chapel and the sacristy, a multitude of church works of art, from the early history of Christianity to the present, point back to the checkered history of the Mainz cathedral and numerous churches of the diocese.

Pilgrimage sites

Mombacher Kreuzkapelle

An overview of all pilgrimage sites can be found on the diocese's homepage, see below under web links. There are around 35 pilgrimage sites in the diocese, most of which are used to venerate saints or relics. The most important are:

• Bad Wimpfen - on the mountain
• Bad Wimpfen - in the valley
• Rochus pilgrimage to the plague saint Rochus of Montpellier near Bingen
• Maria Oberndorf in Bodenheim
• Kreuzkapelle in Mainz-Mombach at the heightening of the cross
• Fourteen Helpers Chapel in Mainz-Gonsenheim
• Maria - comforter of the afflicted in Mainz-Marienborn on the feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary
• Pilgrimage Church Dieburg
• Gau-Algesheim
• Gau-Bickelheim
• Ilbenstadt
• Klein-Steinheim
• Liebfrauenheide near Klein-Krotzenburg
• Jakobsberg Priory in Ockenheim
• Collegiate Church in Pfaffen-Schwabenheim : Mary, Queen of Peace on the feast of the Assumption of Mary on August 15th
• Einhardsbasilika St. Marcellinus and Petrus in Seligenstadt
• Maria Einsiedel Church in Gernsheim

Organs and bells

There are around 400 organs in the diocese of Mainz  , and around 1500 bells ring on the towers and turrets of the 550 churches and chapels. All are of different ages and origins, 320 of which are considered historical. Historically valuable specimens, such as the one in the turret of the Mombacher Kreuzkapelle with the inscription "hans gensfleisch richter", were collected by the diocesan museum and, if necessary, replaced by a cast.

Diocesan calendar

Reliquary for the Mainz saints in the east crypt of Mainz Cathedral; (1960).

In the diocese of Mainz, the regional calendar for the German-speaking area is supplemented by the following celebrations .

• 0January 5: Johannes Nepomuk Neumann , missionary and bishop of Philadelphia
• 0February 4th: Rabanus Maurus , Abbot of the Fulda Monastery and Archbishop of Mainz.
• February 14th: Valentin von Terni , saint and martyr of the Roman Catholic Church in the 3rd century
• February 23: Willigis, Archbishop of Mainz, key figure in the history of the Archdiocese.
• April 27: Petrus Canisius , saint and Doctor of the Church
• May 15th: Rupert von Bingen , patron of Bingen-Bingerbrück and patron of the pilgrims
• 0June 2nd: Peter and Marcellinus
• 0June 5th: Boniface
• June 10: Bardo of Mainz
• June 21: Alban von Mainz
• June 27th: Crescence , Aureus , Theonest
• 0July 4th: Anniversary of the consecration of the Mainz Cathedral
• 0August 1st: Peter Faber
• August 16: Rochus de Montpellier
• 0September 6th: Anniversary of the consecration of churches that do not know their consecration day
• September 17th: Hildegard von Bingen
• September 28th: Lioba von Tauberbischofsheim
• October 16: Lullus
• October 26th: Amandus of Strasbourg , confessor, first bishop of Strasbourg, bishop of Maastricht and Worms
• October 29th: Ferrutius
• November 11th: Martin of Tours
• November 27th: Bilhildis von Altmünster

See also

• Kurmainz
• Mainz Cathedral Chapter
• List of the bishops of Mainz
• List of the auxiliary bishops of Mainz
• List of the Mainz cathedral preachers
• Mainz wheel
• Roman Catholic Church in Germany

literature

• Stefan Burkhardt: With staff and sword. Images, bearers and functions of archbishop rule at the time of Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa. The archbishopric of Cologne and Mainz in comparison. Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2008.
• Rolf Decot : Mainz and the Reformation. In: Archive for Middle Rhine Church History . 70 (2018), pp. 85-108.
• Odilo Engels : Bonifatius, Mainz and the German Church . In: Before times. History in Rhineland-Palatinate , Vol. IV, edited by Dieter Lau and Franz-Josef Heyen . Verlag Hermann Schmidt, Mainz 1988, pp. 31-46, ISBN 3-87439-177-9 .
• Friedhelm Jürgensmeier : The diocese of Mainz. From Roman times to the Second Vatican Council. Knecht Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-7820-0570-8 .
• Georg May : The organization of jurisdiction and administration in the Archdiocese of Mainz from the high Middle Ages to the end of the imperial church. Society for Middle Rhine Church History, Mainz 2004, ISBN 3-929135-44-2 .
  • Volume 1: The Central Authorities
  • Volume 2: The Commissariats
• Hans Werner Nopper: The pre-Bonifatian bishops of Mainz. Mülheim 2001.
• Franz Usinger: The diocese of Mainz under French rule (1798–1814). Falk, Mainz 1911 ( digitized version on the website of the University of Belgrade ).
• Peter Kohlgraf: Learn to share, learn to pray, become humble. Saint Martin as a companion for the diocese of Mainz . Pastoral word of the Bishop of Mainz on the Easter penance in 2018. Episcopal Chancellery / Publications Diocese of Mainz, Mainz February 2018.

Web links

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

Wikisource: Topographia Colonia et al.  - Sources and full texts

• Diocese website
• Regest of the Archbishops of Mainz
• Entry for the Diocese of Mainz on catholic-hierarchy.org
• Private page about missionaries in Franconia: Willibrord, Bonifatius, Burkard, Lullus, Megingaud, Willibald

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Catholic Church in Germany. (PDF; 1.1 MB) Statistical data 2018. Secretariat of the German Bishops' Conference, July 19, 2019, p. 3 , accessed on July 19, 2019 . 
2. ↑ AP2019 .
3. ↑ Calendarium of the collegiate church service in Mainz Cathedral 2015/2016 ( Memento from October 18, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), edited by Domdean Prelate Heinz Heckwolf.
4. ^ Dassmann in: Handbuch der Mainz Kirchengeschichte. Volume 1/1, p. 22.
5. ↑ On the whole problem: Nopper: Die vorbonifatianischen Bischöfe, p. 26 ff.
6. ^ Dassmann in: Handbuch der Mainz Kirchengeschichte. Volume 1/1, p. 52.
7. ^ Georg Wilhelm Sante: Boniface and the establishment of the Mainz diocese. In: Historical yearbook. 1937 (57), pp. 157-197.
8. ^ Hehl in: Handbuch der Mainz Kirchengeschichte. Volume 1/1, p. 198.
9. ↑ ^{a b} Parish associations and parish groups. (PDF; 218 kB) In: bistummainz.de. November 26, 2005. Retrieved July 26, 2019 . 
10. ↑ Christmas letter 2012 from the parish of St. Nikolaus.
11. ↑ Schematism of the Diocese of Mainz 2007, p. 103.
12. ↑ Evidence for each information: Schematismus der Diözese Mainz 2007, p. 73 ff.
13. ↑ Our mission statement. In: bildungswerk.bistummainz.de. Retrieved July 26, 2019 . 
14. ↑ Michael Matheus: Pilgrims and places of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages and modern times. Franz Steiner Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-515-07431-7 .
15. ↑ Maria Weißenberger: "Like a work of art for the glory of God". (PDF; 2.7 MB) Topic: Church music training in the diocese of Mainz. October 5, 2008, accessed July 15, 2019 (scan). 

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on May 19, 2006 .