Bishop of Coventry

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The Bishop of Coventry is the Ordinary of the England Diocese of Coventry in the Province of Canterbury. In the Middle Ages, the Bishop of Coventry was a title used by the bishops known today as the Bishop of Lichfield.

The present diocese covers most of the County of Warwickshire. The see is in the City of Coventry where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Saint Michael. The Bishop's residence is The Bishop's House, Coventry.

[edit] History

From 1102 to 1238, the former Benedictine priory in the city was the seat of the early Bishops of Coventry (previously known as Bishops of Chester or of Lichfield). It was, afterwards, one of the two seats of the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield until the Reformation of the 1530s when Coventry Cathedral was demolished and the bishop's seat moved to Lichfield, though the title remained as Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry until 1837, when Coventry was united with the Diocese of Worcester.

The present diocese was founded in 1918 under King George V when the parish church of Saint Michael was elevated to cathedral status. The cathedral suffered under fire-bombing by the Luftwaffe on the night of 14 November 1940 and remains today as a dignified ruin adjacent to the new cathedral building consecrated on 25 May 1962. The current bishop is the Right Reverend Colin James Bennetts, the 8th Lord Bishop of Coventry, who signs Colin Coventry.

[edit] See also

Anglican hierarchy in the United Kingdom and Ireland
Anglican Communion