Ecclesiastical Province
An ecclesiastical province is an administrative district of the Catholic Church, which originated the administrative organization of the old Roman Empire. In the late Roman Empire (from the Tetrarchy ), the province was a subdivision of a diocese.
Summary |
In Europe and Worldwide
From the fourth century - the fifth century , this organization has been taken over by the Roman Catholic Church , while a reversal occurred: the diocese became a subdivision of the ecclesiastical province.
The bishops sitting in the large Roman towns, or "metropolitan", obtained a right of supervision over the bishops of smaller cities: they were named archbishops from the sixth century and the pope gave them the pallium , the symbol of their authority.
Several dioceses thus form an ecclesiastical province, or a metropolitan province, under the authority of an archbishop. The latter is the head of an archdiocese. The bishops who depend on him are called suffragan , like their diocese.
The new ecclesiastical provinces are created by the Roman pontiff, either from scratch in newly evangelized, or by division of a larger province. The bishop himself at the head of an ecclesiastical province has the rank of archbishop and carries the title of metropolitan , the bishops depend on him as part of the institutional functioning of a province, under the Code of Canon Law of 1983 are its suffragan.
In the Middle Ages , in the countries of Europe heirs of the Roman Empire, the ancient Roman provinces were preserved: they have remained almost unchanged in France until 1802.
France
French ecclesiastical provinces were changed twice over the past two centuries.
- After the Concordat of 1801 , former French dioceses have been redistributed: some have disappeared before being restored in the course of the nineteenth century. New ecclesiastical provinces were then drawn, but by taking more or less the lines of previous ecclesiastical provinces. The new ecclesiastical province of Tours has included the departments to the former. However, it was dismembered during the nineteenth century by the creation of the ecclesiastical province of Rennes (departments of Britain ).
- In the 1960s , the Catholic bishops of France experimented with a new administrative organization, with apostolic regions. The ecclesiastical provinces were none so far removed, but mothballed, with the exception of officialdom. By decree of Pope John Paul II dated 8 December 2002 , provinces and regions apostolic Concordat were abolished and replaced by new ecclesiastical provinces.
Since 2003 , the role of archbishops metropolitan was restored after losing for centuries its hierarchical specificity. Several archdioceses , sometimes very old, have lost their title of metropolis , the ecclesiastical sense of the term, and are again simple dioceses. This is particularly true for the ancient ecclesiastical province of Bourges , once the largest in Gaul, then France : the diocese of Bourges now belongs to the ecclesiastical province of Tours ; an archbishop remains at its head.
Comparing the new card with those of the former Roman provinces, only the ecclesiastical province of Rouen , which corresponds to the six dioceses of Upper and Lower Normandy , boasts some affiliation: it corresponds roughly to the second Lyonnaise the fourth century.
See also
Internal Links
- Roman province
- Dioceses of the Roman Empire
- Late Antiquity
- List of Catholic ecclesiastical provinces
- List of Anglican church provinces
- List of dioceses and Archdiocese of Canada
- List of dioceses and Archdiocese of Italy
- List of Orthodox dioceses and archdioceses ( interwiki )
- List of bishops and archbishops French (Old Scheme)
- French Catholic constituencies in the nineteenth century
- French Catholic districts since 2002
- List of ecclesiastical provinces in Indonesia
External link
- New Map of French ecclesiastical provinces (Site of the Catholic Church)
Loading ...