''Aeque principaliter'' ("equally important") is a Latin term used by the Roman
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
to indicate a merger of two or more
diocese
In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...
s in which – to avoid questions of predominance – the dioceses are all given equal importance. Such a merger often followed a merger ''
in persona episcopi''.
This type of union essentially consists into the fusion of two or more circumscriptions into only one. As a consequence, this new diocese will have two or more episcopal sees and cathedrals, which correspond to those of the previous dioceses.
To give an example, the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Pamplona and Tudela is a single diocese established by the union ''aeque principaliter'' of the Archdiocese of Pamplona and the Diocese of Tudela. Through this fusion, the new circumscription has two episcopal sees: Pamplona and Tudela. As a consequence it has also two (co-)cathedrals, one for each episcopal see.
Parishes may also be merged .
Examples
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Diocese of Atri merged ''aeque principaliter'' with the
Diocese of Penne (from 15 March 1252 to 1 July 1949)
*
Diocese of Prato united ''aeque principaliter'' with
Diocese of Pistoia (from 22 September 1653 to 25 January 1954)
*
Diocese of Bitonto united ''aeque principaliter'' to
Diocese of Ruvo (from 27 June 1818 to 30 September 1982)
*
Diocese of Brugnato united ''aeque principaliter'' with
Diocese of Luni-Sarzana (from 2 October 1820 to 30 September 1986)
*
Diocese of Cervia united ''aeque principaliter'' with the
Archdiocese of Ravenna (from 22 February 1947 to 30 September 1986)
See also
*
Canon law (Catholic Church)
The canon law of the Catholic Church () is "how the Church organizes and governs herself". It is the system of religious laws and canon law, ecclesiastical legal principles made and enforced by the Hierarchy of the Catholic Church, hierarchical ...
References
Catholic Church legal terminology
Catholic canonical structures
Episcopacy in the Catholic Church
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