Roman Catholic Diocese of Hildesheim

Diocese of Hildesheim Dioecesis Hildesiensis
St. Mary's Cathedral, Hildesheim
Location
Country	Germany
Ecclesiastical province	Hamburg
Metropolitan	Hildesheim, Lower Saxony
Statistics
Area	30,000 km2 (12,000 sq mi)
Population - Catholics	652,461 (11.4%)
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	800
Cathedral	St. Mary's Cathedral
Patron saint	St. Godehard Mary, Mother of God
Current leadership
Pope	Benedict XVI
Bishop	Norbert Trelle Bishop of Hildesheim
Metropolitan Archbishop	Werner Thissen Archbishop of Hamburg
Auxiliary Bishop	Hans-Georg Koitz (emeritus), Nikolaus Schwerdtfeger, Heinz-Gunter Bongartz
Emeritus Bishops	Josef Homeyer
Map
Website
bistum-hildesheim.de

The Diocese of Hildesheim (Latin:Dioecesis Hildesiensis) is a diocese or ecclesiastical territory of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church in Germany. Founded in 815 as a missionary diocese by King Louis the Pious, his son Louis the German appointed the famous former archbishop of Rheims, Ebbo, as bishop. Between 1235 and 1802, the bishop of Hildesheim was also Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. His territory was the Bishopric of Hildesheim.

The Diocese of Hildesheim continues to exist; today, it covers those parts of the State of Lower Saxony that are east of the River Weser, northern neighbourhoods in Bremen, and the city of Bremerhaven. The current bishop is Norbert Trelle who was appointed in 2006. The diocese is a suffragan to the Archdiocese of Hamburg since 1994. Originally Hildesheim was suffragan to Mainz until 1805. Then it was an exempt diocese until 1930, before it was part of the Middle German Ecclesiastical Province with Paderborn Archdiocese as metropolitan between 1930 and 1994.

Ordinaries

• Dietmar † (20 Aug 1038 Ordained Bishop - 14 Nov 1044 Died)
• Magnus Herzog von Sachsen-Lauenburg † (12 May 1424 Succeeded - 20 May 1452 Resigned)
• Bernhard Herzog von Braunschweig-Lüneburg † (20 May 1452 Appointed - 1458 Resigned)
• Ernst Graf von Schaumberg † ( 1458 Appointed - 22 Jul 1471 Died)
• Henning von Haus † (29 Sep 1471 Appointed - Nov 1480 Resigned)
• Berthold II of Landsberg † ( 1481 Appointed - 4 May 1502 Died)
• Erich Herzog von Sachsen-Lauenburg † (2 Dec 1502 Confirmed - 1504 Resigned)
• John IV of Saxe-Lauenburg † (12 Jul 1503 Appointed - 6 May 1527 Resigned)
• Balthasar Merklin † (6 May 1527 Appointed - 28 May 1531 Died)
• Otto Graf von Schaumberg † (28 Jul 1531 Appointed - 22 Dec 1576 Died)
• Valentin von Tetleben † (30 Sep 1537 Appointed - 19 Apr 1551 Died)
• Friedrich Herzog von Schleswig-Holstein † (3 Oct 1551 Appointed - 27 Oct 1556 Died)
• Burchard Oberg † (31 Mar 1557 Appointed - 23 Feb 1573 Died)
• Ernst Herzog von Bayern † (7 Mar 1573 Appointed - 17 Feb 1612 Died)
• Ferdinand Herzog von Bayern † (17 Feb 1612 Succeeded - 13 Sep 1650 Died)
• Max Heinrich Herzog von Bayern † (13 Sep 1650 Succeeded - 3 Jun 1688 Died)
• Jobst Edmund Freiherr von Brabeck † (19 Jul 1688 Appointed - 13 Aug 1702 Died)
• Joseph Clemens Kajetan Herzog von Bayern † ( 1714 Succeeded - 11 Dec 1723 Died)
• Clemens August Maria Herzog von Bayern † (5 Feb 1724 Appointed - 6 Feb 1761 Died)
• Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Westphalen † (7 Feb 1763 Appointed - 6 Jan 1789 Died)
• Franz Egon Freiherr von Fürstenberg † (6 Jan 1789 Succeeded - 11 Aug 1825 Died)
• Karl Klemens Reichsfreiherr von Gruben † (11 Aug 1825 Appointed - 4 Jul 1827 Died)
• Godehard Joseph Osthaus † (26 Mar 1829 Appointed - 30 Dec 1835 Died)
• Franz Ferdinand (Johann Franz) Fritz, O.S.B. † (10 Mar 1836 Appointed - 6 Sep 1840 Died)
• Jakob Joseph Wandt † (9 Dec 1841 Appointed - 16 Oct 1849 Died)
• Eduard Jakob Wedekin † (27 Nov 1849 Appointed - 25 Dec 1870 Died)
• Daniel Wilhelm Sommerwerk (Jacobi) † (13 Apr 1871 Appointed - 18 Dec 1905 Died)
• Adolf Bertram † (26 Apr 1906 Appointed - 25 May 1914 Appointed, Archbishop of Breslau (Wrocław))
• Joseph Ernst † (10 Feb 1915 Appointed - 5 May 1928 Died)
• Nikolaus Bares † (15 Jan 1929 Appointed - 27 Oct 1933 Appointed, Bishop of Berlin)
• Joseph Godehard Machens † (22 Jun 1934 Appointed - 14 Aug 1956 Died)
• Heinrich Maria Janssen † (3 Feb 1957 Appointed - 28 Dec 1983 Retired)
• Josef Homeyer (25 Aug 1983 Appointed - 20 Aug 2004 Retired)
• Norbert Trelle (29 Nov 2005 Appointed - )

External links

• Official site
• At Catholic-Hierarchy.org
• "Hildesheim". Catholic Encyclopedia. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07353a.htm. Retrieved 2007-02-18.