Archdiocese of Malta
Archdiocese of Malta | |
Basic data | |
---|---|
Country | Malta |
Diocesan bishop | Charles Scicluna |
Auxiliary bishop | Joseph Galea-Curmi |
Emeritus diocesan bishop | Paul Cremona OP |
surface | 246 km² |
Parishes | 70 (December 31, 2016 / AP2017 ) |
Residents | 426,000 (December 31, 2016 / AP2017 ) |
Catholics | 380,000 (December 31, 2016 / AP2017 ) |
proportion of | 89.2% |
Diocesan priest | 270 (December 31, 2016 / AP2017 ) |
Religious priest | 348 (December 31, 2016 / AP2017 ) |
Catholics per priest | 615 |
Friars | 424 (December 31, 2016 / AP2017 ) |
Religious sisters | 772 (December 31, 2016 / AP2017 ) |
rite | Roman rite |
Liturgical language |
Maltese English |
cathedral | St. Paul |
Co-cathedral | St. John |
Website | www.maltadiocese.org |
Suffragan dioceses | Diocese of Gozo |
The Archdiocese of Malta ( Latin : Archidioecesis Melitensis o Melevitana ) is an archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Malta .
history
The diocese was probably founded after Belisarius recaptured the island in 533. The first bishop Julianus known by name signed the decree of Pope Vigilius on the three chapters as a witness in Constantinople in 553 . We know some successors from the register of Gregory the Great . There they are counted among the bishops of Sicily . The Greek Notitiae episcopatuum assign Malta (ό Μελίτης, Μελέτη) also to the province of Sicily. The occupation of the islands by the Saracens led to the extensive decline of Christianity. The conquest by Roger I of Sicily was initially not followed by a re-establishment of the diocese, especially since the majority of the population was Muslim until the 13th century. In 1156 the diocese of Malta was subordinated to the Archdiocese of Palermo as a suffragan by Hadrian IV . Bishop Johannes is known by name under King Wilhelm II .
In 1530 the administration of the diocese was transferred to the Johannitern , who also carried on the tradition of the Archbishop of Rhodes . 1797 united Pius VI. the diocese of Malta with the archbishopric of Rhodes , but it remained a suffragan of Palermo. In 1831 it was directly subordinated to the Holy See and on January 1, 1944, it was raised to the rank of archbishopric . The Archbishop of Malta has his residence in Valletta . The cathedral in Mdina is dedicated to the Blessed Mother and the Apostle Paul, the legendary founder of the diocese.
The Archdiocese of Malta is the metropolitan bishopric of the Diocese of Gozo .
literature
- Italia Pontificia sive Repertorium privilegiorum et litterarum a Romanis pontificibus ante annum MCLXXXXVIII Italiae ecclesiis, monasteriis, civitatibus singulisque personis concessorum, t. X: Calabria - Insulae , ed. Dieter Girgensohn , Zurich 1975, pp. 268-271.
See also
Web links
- Entry on the Archdiocese of Malta on catholic-hierarchy.org
- Entry on the Archdiocese of Malta on gcatholic.org (English)
- Entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia , Robert Appleton Company, New York 1913.
- Alessandro Bonnici on the materials on the church history of Malta 1539–1703 in the Fondo Barberini of the Vatican Library ( Memento from May 27, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) PDF, 216 kB.