The Roman Catholic Diocese of Balecium (Latin name) or of Balecio/Balezo (in Curiate/Venetian Italian) or of Baleč (in Serbian) is a former Latin Rite bishopric and present titular see of the Catholic Church in Albania. The town that was its seat was destroyed in 1356 by the kingdom of Rascia.
Contents
History
Circa 1300 was established a Diocese of Balecio alias Balezo.
At the beginning of the 14th century, Baleč was the see of a small Catholic diocese. In 1356, Bishop Andreas Citer complained that his bishopric was full of schismatics. The diocese had been laid waste and impoverished by Serbian "schismatics of the kingdom of Rascia", who had completely destroyed the monastery situated 5000 paces from the cathedral. In response, Pope Innocent VI granted him in commendam, on 26 September of the same year, the Benedictine monastery of St. John in Drivast. At this time Baleč must have ceased to exist as a town, so that, although bishops continued to be appointed to the see, by 1448, when even the fortress rebuilt by Skanderbeg was destroyed, the town was no more than a memory.
In 1500 the bishopric was formally suppressed.
Residential suffragan bishops
(all Roman Rite)
Titular see
The bishopric of Balecium, no longer a residential see, is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see since it was nominally restored as Latin titular bishopric under the names Balecium or Balecio.
It has had the following incumbents, all of the fitting episcopal (lowest) rank :
- Johannes Theodor Suhr, Benedictine Order (O.S.B.) (1938.12.13 – 1953.04.29)
- Agostino Baroni, Comboni Missionaries (M.C.C.J.) (1953.06.29 – 1974.12.12) (later Archbishop)
- Amaury Castanho (1976.07.19 – 1979.11.30)
- Claude Feidt (1980.07.05 – 1985.02.16), later Archbishop
- Peter Kang U-il (1985.12.21 – 2002.07.20)
- Franz Lackner, Friars Minor (O.F.M.) (2002.10.23 – 2013.11.18)
- Herwig Gössl (24 January 2014 - ...), Auxiliary Bishop of Bamberg (Germany)