Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Strasbourg

History

The Diocese of Strasbourg was first mentioned in 343, belonging to the ecclesiastical province of the Archbishopric of Mainz since Carolingian times. Archeological diggings below the current Saint Stephen’s Church, Strasbourg in 1948 and 1956 have unearthed the apse of a church dating back to the late 4th or early 5th century, considered the oldest church in Alsace. It is supposed that this was the first seat of the diocese. The diocese may thus have been founded around 300.

The bishop also was the ruler of an ecclesiastical principality (prince-bishopric) in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages and Early Modern period. For this state, see Prince-Bishopric of Strasbourg.

Since the 15th century, the diocesan seat has been the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Strasbourg. By the Concordat of 1801, the Diocese of Strasbourg became a public-law corporation of cult (French: établissement public du culte) and the diocesan ambit of Strasbourg was redrawn and all its areas east of the river Rhine were redeployed, forming a part of the Archdiocese of Freiburg since 1821. On 29 November 1801 it gained territory from the Diocese of Basel (Switzerland), Diocese of Metz and Diocese of Speyer (Spiers, Germany). On 25 February 1803 it lost territory to the Diocese of Konstanz, on 26 April 1808 it gained territory from the same and in 1815 lost territory to that Diocese of Konstanz.

In 1871 the bulk of the diocese became part of German Empire, while small fringes remained with France. On 10 July 1874 Strasbourg diocese, with its diocesan ambit reconfined to the borders of then German Alsace, gaining territory from the Diocese of Saint-Dié, and losing territory to the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Besançon, and it became an exempt diocese, immediately subject to the Holy See instead of part of any ecclesiastical province. When the 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State was enacted, doing away with public-law religious corporations, this did not apply to the Strasbourg diocese which was then being within Germany.

After World War I, Alsace along with the diocese was returned to France, but the concordatary status has been preserved since as part of the Local law in Alsace-Moselle.

The diocese was elevated to Archdiocese of Strasbourg on 1 June 1988 by Pope John Paul II but not as Metropolitan of an ecclesiastical province and remains exempt, so having nor being a suffragan. The bishop of this see is appointed by the French president according to the Concordat of 1801. The concordat further provides for the clergy being paid by the government and Catholic pupils in public schools can receive religious instruction according to archdiocesan guide lines.

It enjoyed papal visits from Pope John Paul II in October 1988 and Pope Francis in November 2014.

Church buildings

The archiepsicopal cathedral seat is the Cathedral of Notre Dame (Our Lady) in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, as mother church, a World Heritage Site.

It has four other Minor Basilicas : Basilique du Sacré-Cœur (Sacred Heart) in Lutterbach, Basilique Notre-Dame in Marienthal, Basilique Notre-Dame de Thierenbach, in Jungholtz and Basilique Notre-Dame du Mont Sainte-Odile in Ottrott, all also in Bas-Rhin, Alsace.

Statistics

As per 2014, it pastorally served 1,380,000 Catholics (74.9% of 1,843,000 total) on 8,280 km² in 767 parishes and 5 missions with 722 priests (517 diocesan, 205 religious), 80 deacons, 1,332 lay religious (282 brothers, 1,050 sisters) and 17 seminarians . As of 31 December 2003, the area of the archdiocese comprised a total of 1,713,416 inhabitants of which 75.9% (1,300,000) are Catholics, divided in 762 parishes covering an area of 8,280 km². Also, 619 diocese priests, 50 deacons, 288 ordained priests and 1,728 nuns belonged to the archdiocese.

Episcopal Ordinaries

(all Roman Rite; incomplete, first centuries unavailable)