Roman Catholic Diocese of Trier

The Roman Catholic diocese of Trier is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in Germany. As former archbishopric and Electorate of Trier it was one of the most important as both an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire, and as a diocese of the church. Unlike the other Rhenish dioceses — Mainz and Cologne, Trier was the former Roman provincial capital of Augusta Treverorum. Given its status, Trier has always been the seat of a bishop since Roman times, one of the oldest dioceses in all of Germany. The diocese was elevated to an Archdiocese in the time of Charlemagne, and was the metropolitan for the dioceses of Metz, Toul and Verdun. After the victory of Napoleon, the archdiocese was lowered to a diocese and is now a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Cologne. The diocesan cathedral is the Cathedral of Saint Peter.

History

The bishops of Trier were already virtually independent territorial magnates in Merovingian times. In 772 Charlemagne granted Bishop Wiomad complete immunity from the jurisdiction of the ruling count for all the churches and monasteries, as well as villages and castles that belonged to the Church of St. Peter at Trier. In his will he also elevated the diocese to the Archdiocese of Trier, with suffragans on both sides of the Rhine. This arrangement lasted over a thousand years.

In Early Modern times, the archdiocese of Trier still encompassed territory along the Moselle River between Trier, near the French border, and Koblenz on the Rhine. The Archbishop of Trier, as holder of an imperial office was traditionally an Imperial Elector of the German king. The purely honorary office of Archchancellor of Gaul arose in the 13th century. In this context that was taken to mean the Kingdom of Arles, or Burgundy, technically from 1242 and permanently from 1263, and nominally until 1803. Arles along with Germany and Italy was one of the three component kingdoms of the Empire.

The last elector removed to Koblenz in 1786. From 1795, the territories of the Archbishopric on the left bank of the Rhine — which is to say almost all of them — were under French occupation, and were annexed in 1801 and a separate bishopric established (later assuming control of the whole diocese in 1803). In 1803, what was left of the Archbishopric was secularized and annexed by the Princes of Nassau.

Ordinaries

• Jakob von Sierck † (19 May 1439 Appointed - 28 May 1456 Died)
• Johann Markgraf von Baden † (21 Jun 1456 Appointed - 9 Feb 1502 Died)
• Jakob Markgraf von Baden † (9 Feb 1503 Succeeded - 27 Apr 1511 Died)
• Richard Greiffenclau von Vollrads † (15 May 1511 Appointed - 13 Mar 1531 Died)
• Johann von Metzenhausen † (27 Mar 1531 Appointed - 22 Jul 1540 Died)
• Johann Ludwig von Hagen † (9 Aug 1540 Appointed - 23 Mar 1547 Died)
• Johann von Isenburg † (20 Apr 1547 Appointed - 18 Feb 1556 Died)
• Johann von Leyen † (25 Apr 1556 Appointed - 10 Feb 1567 Died)
• Jakob von Eltz † (7 Apr 1567 Appointed - 4 Jun 1581 Died)
• Johann von Schönenberg † (31 Jul 1581 Appointed - 1 May 1599 Died)
• Lothar von Metternich † (7 Aug 1599 Appointed - 17 Sep 1623 Died)
• Philipp Christoph Reichsritter von Sötern † (25 Sep 1623 Appointed - 7 Feb 1652 Died)
• Karl Kaspar Reichsfreiherr von Leyen-Hohengeroldseck † (7 Feb 1652 Succeeded - 1 Jun 1676 Died)
• Johann Hugo von Orsbeck † (1 Jun 1676 Succeeded - 6 Jan 1711 Died)
• Karl Joseph Ignaz Herzog von Lothringen † (24 Sep 1710 Appointed - 4 Dec 1715 Died)
• Franz Ludwig Pfalzgraf am Rhein zu Neuburg † (20 Feb 1716 Appointed - 3 Mar 1729 Resigned)
• Franz Georg Reichsfgraf von Schönborn † (2 May 1729 Appointed - 18 Jan 1756 Died)
• Johann Philipp Reichsgraf von Waldendorff † (18 Jan 1756 Succeeded - 12 Jan 1768 Died)
• Klemens Wenzeslaus Herzog von Sachsen † (10 Feb 1768 Appointed - 29 Nov 1801 Resigned)
• Charles Mannay † (5 Jul 1802 Appointed - 9 Oct 1816 Resigned)
• Josef von Hommer † (3 May 1824 Appointed - 11 Nov 1836 Died)
• Wilhelm Arnoldi † (21 Jun 1842 Appointed - 7 Jan 1864 Died)
• Leopold Pelldram † (29 Dec 1864 Appointed - 3 May 1867 Died)
• Matthias Eberhard † (16 Jul 1867 Appointed - 30 May 1876 Died)
• Michael Felix Korum † (12 Aug 1881 Appointed - 4 Dec 1921 Died)
• Franz Rudolf Bornewasser † (27 Feb 1922 Appointed - 20 Dec 1951 Died)
• Matthias Wehr † (20 Dec 1951 Succeeded - 19 Nov 1966 Retired)
• Bernhard Stein † (13 Apr 1967 Appointed - 5 Sep 1980 Retired)
• Hermann Josef Spital † (24 Feb 1981 Appointed - 15 Jan 2001 Retired)
• Reinhard Marx (20 Dec 2001 Appointed - 30 Nov 2007 Appointed, Archbishop of München und Freising {Munich})
• Stephan Ackermann (8 Apr 2009 Appointed - )

See also

• History of Trier

References

• (German) Die Bischöfe von Trier
• (English) Diocese of Trier in the 1908 Catholic Encyclopaedia