Archbishopric of Strasbourg

Bistum Strossburi (als) Fürstbistum Straßburg (de) Prince-Évêché de Strasbourg (fr) Prince-Bishopric of Strasbourg State of the Holy Roman Empire ← 982 – 1803 →   → The Bishopric of Strasbourg, circa 1547 Capital Strasbourg Government Theocracy Historical era Middle Ages  - Bishopric founded before 343  - Gained autonomy 775  - Gained Reichsfreiheit 982  - Left-bank territories     annexed by France   1681  - Annexation recognised by     the Holy Roman Empire   1697  - Right-bank territories     mediatised to Baden   1803

The Archbishopric of Strasbourg (French: Diocèse d'Alsace; German: Erzbistum Straßburg; Latin: Archidioecesis Argentoratensis o Argentinensis) is a Roman Catholic diocese at Strasbourg, Alsace, and is as immediate bishopric a direct subject to the Holy See in Rome, not to the Catholic Church in France.

The diocese of Strasbourg was first mentioned in 343 and belonged to the ecclesiastical province of the Archbishopric of Mainz since Carolingian times. Since the 15th century, the diocesan seat has been the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Strasbourg.

The Bishopric was a client state of the Holy Roman Empire from the 13th century until 1803. During the late 17th century, most of its territory was annexed by France; this consisted of the areas around the towns of Saverne, Molsheim, Bevefelden, Dachstein, Dambach, Kochersberg, Erstein, Kästenbolz, Rhinau, and the Mundat (consisting of Rouffach, Soultz, and Eguisheim). The annexations were recognized by the Holy Roman Empire in the Treaty of Ryswick of 1697. Only the part of the state that was to the right of the Rhine remained; it consisted of areas around the towns of Oberkirch, Ettenheim, and Oppenau. The remaining territory was secularized to Baden in 1803.

The diocese was elevated to an archdiocese on 1 June 1988 by Pope John Paul II, but is not metropolitan of an ecclesiastical province. The current archbishop is Jean-Pierre Grallet, in office since April 2007; see also Archbishops of Strasbourg. The bishop of this see is appointed by the French president.

As of 31 December 2003, the archdiocese comprised a total of 762 parishes covering an area of 8,280 km² with 1,713,416 inhabitants of which 75.9% (1,300,000) are Catholics. Also, 619 diocese priests, 50 deacons, 288 ordained priests and 1,728 nuns belong to the Archbishopric of Strasbourg.

Gallery

Strasbourg: Woodcut from Hartmann Schedel's Weltchronik, Nürnberg, 1493	Le quai des Bateliers, with Saint Madeleine's church	Panorama of the Ponts Couverts, from the roof of the Barrage Vauban	Notre-Dame de Strasbourg, seat of the archbishop of Strasbourg
View of the cathedral	View from the cathedral	View from the cathedral

External links

• Official site of the diocese
• Official site of the cathedral
• Archbishopric of Strasbourg at Catholic Hierarchy.org
• Image of the cathedral

Holy Roman Empire — Upper Rhenish Circle (1500–1806)
Ecclesiastical princes	Basel | Fulda | Heitersheim | Odenheim–Bruchsal | Prüm | Speyer | Strassburg | Weissenburg | Worms
Bench of Secular princes	Hersfeld | Hesse: Darmstadt, Kassel | Isenburg-Birstein | Kaiserslautern | Lorraine‡ | Nassau: Idstein, Ottweiler, Saarbrücken, Usingen, Weilburg | Salm-Kyrburg | Savoy | Simmern | Solms-Braunfels | Sponheim* | Veldenz and Lautereck | Waldeck* | Zweibrücken
Bench of Counts and Lords	Bretzenheim* | Dachstuhl* | Falkenstein* | Hanau: Lichtenberg†, Münzenberg† | Isenburg: Büdingen, Meerholz*, Wächtersbach* | Königstein: Mainz, Stolberg | Kriechingen | Leiningen: Hardenburg, Westerburg | Mensfelden* | Olbrück* | Reipoltskirchen* | Salm: Dhaun*, Grehweiler, Grumbach | Solms: Hohensolms, Laubach, Lich, Rödelheim | Wartenberg* | Wittgenstein: Berleburg, Wittgenstein
Bench of Cities	Frankfurt | Friedberg | Speyer | Straßburg | Wetzlar | Worms
* No seat in the Reichstag       † until 1736       ‡ Nomeny after 1737

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