The Diocese of Leicester is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

diocese based in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

and including the current county of

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

. The cathedral is

Leicester Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Martin, Leicester, commonly known as Leicester Cathedral, is a Church of England cathedral in Leicester, England, and the seat of the Bishop of Leicester. One of the city centre's five surviving medieval ch ...

, where the

Bishop of Leicester The Bishop of Leicester is the Ordinary of the Diocese of Leicester in the Province of Canterbury of the Church of England. Through reorganisation within the Church of England, the Diocese of Leicester was refounded in 1927, and St Martin's ...

has his episcopal chair. The diocese is divided into two archdeaconries, the

Archdeaconry of Leicester The Archdeacon of Leicester is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Church of England Diocese of Leicester. History The first archdeacon of Leicester is recorded before 1092 – around the time when archdeacons were first appointed in England ...

in the east of the county and the Archdeaconry of Loughborough in the west. The former is divided into the rural deaneries of City of Leicester; Framland (Melton Mowbray); Gartree First and Second; and

Goscote Goscote was a wapentake in the county of Leicestershire, England; consisting of the north and north-west of the county. It was recorded in the Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript ...

. The latter is divided into the rural deaneries of Akeley East, South and West;

Guthlaxton Guthlaxton is an ancient hundred of Leicestershire. Its jurisdiction was in the south of the county, and covered Lutterworth and Wigston Magna. At the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, it was one of Leicestershire's four wapentakes, and covered ...

; and

Sparkenhoe Sparkenhoe was a hundred of Leicestershire, England in the south-west of the county, covering Market Bosworth and Hinckley, broadly corresponding to the modern districts of Blaby and Hinckley and Bosworth. The meeting place of the Sparkenhoe Hund ...

East and West. The diocese owns a retreat house at

Launde Abbey Launde Abbey is located in Leicestershire, England, 14 miles east of the city of Leicester and 6 miles south west of Oakham in Rutland. The house was built on the site of the Augustinian Launde Priory. The Grade II* listed building is predomina ...

near

East Norton East Norton is a small village and parish located in the east of Leicestershire, adjoining the A47 Leicester to Uppingham road. According to the 2001 Census, it had a population of 94 in 37 households. The population remained less than 100 at t ...

History

The

Middle Angles The Middle Angles were an important ethnic or cultural group within the larger kingdom of Mercia in England in the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon period. Origins and territory It is likely that Angles (tribe), Angles broke into the English Midlands ...

first had a bishopric in 680 and the Anglo-Saxon cathedral was probably located close to (if not on the site of) the present cathedral. The original diocese fell victim to the invasion by the Danes around 870 and after the establishment of the

Danelaw The Danelaw (, ; ; ) was the part of History of Anglo-Saxon England, England between the late ninth century and the Norman Conquest under Anglo-Saxon rule in which Danes (tribe), Danish laws applied. The Danelaw originated in the conquest and oc ...

in 886 the diocese's seat was moved to Dorchester in Oxfordshire and, taking over the existing

Diocese of Lindine The Bishop of Lindsey was a prelate who administered an Anglo-Saxon diocese between the 7th and 11th centuries. The episcopal title took its name after the ancient Kingdom of Lindsey. History The diocese of Lindsey (Lindine) was established whe ...

(created in 678), became the Diocese of Dorchester. From

Dorchester, Oxfordshire Dorchester on Thames is a historic village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire, England, located about 9 miles (14 km) southeast of Oxford at the confluence of the River Thames and River Thame. The village has evidence of preh ...

, the see was later moved to

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...

in 1072 under King William I, the diocese then becoming the

Diocese of Lincoln The Diocese of Lincoln forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire. History The diocese traces its roots in an unbroken line to the Pre-Reformation Diocese of Leice ...

. Henry VIII divided the larger dioceses at the time of the

English Reformation The English Reformation began in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away first from the authority of the pope and bishops Oath_of_Supremacy, over the King and then from some doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church ...

and the Diocese of Lincoln was divided in three. In 1539 a new cathedral ''was'' being erected, but it was never completed and Peterborough was chosen as the seat of the new diocese and

Peterborough Abbey Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew, and formerly known as Peterborough Abbey or St Peter's Abbey, is a cathedral in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, in the United Kingdom. The seat of the Anglic ...

as the cathedral. In the 19th century there were

suffragan bishop A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led b ...

s of Leicester whilst the bishopric was still within the Diocese of Peterborough. The modern diocese was founded on 12 November 1926 from the archdeaconries of Leicester and

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood (borough), Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England; it is the administrative centre of Charnwood Borough Council. At the United Kingdom 2021 census, the town's built-up area had a popula ...

and part of the Archdeaconry of Northampton, all from the Diocese of Peterborough. St Martin's Church, Leicester, was elevated as the cathedral of the new see. Leicestershire was included in the new Diocese of Peterborough in the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

reforms, the archdeaconry of Leicester became part of Peterborough diocese on 1 May 1839 and, on 12 November 1926, the modern Diocese of Leicester was founded from Leicester and Loughborough archdeaconries and part of the archdeaconry of Northampton.

Bishops

The diocesan

is assisted by the

Bishop of Loughborough The Bishop of Loughborough is an episcopal title used by the sole suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Leicester in the Province of Canterbury, England. From 1987 to 2017, the Assistant Bishop of Leicester was an episcopal title u ...

(the sole

, Saju Muthalaly).

Alternative episcopal oversight A provincial episcopal visitor (PEV), popularly known as a flying bishop, is a Church of England bishop assigned to minister to many of the clergy, laity and parishes who on grounds of theological conviction "are unable to receive the ministry of w ...

(for parishes in the diocese which reject the ministry of priests who are women) is provided by the

provincial episcopal visitor A provincial episcopal visitor (PEV), popularly known as a flying bishop, is a Church of England bishop assigned to minister to many of the clergy, laity and parishes who on grounds of theological conviction "are unable to receive the ministry of w ...

, Luke Irvine-Capel, Bishop suffragan of Richborough, who is licensed as an honorary assistant bishop of the diocese. There are currently two retired bishops living in the diocese who are licensed as

honorary assistant bishop An assistant bishop in the Anglican Communion is a bishop appointed to assist a diocesan bishop. Church of England In the established Church of England, assistant bishops are usually retired (diocesan or suffragan) bishops – in which case they ...

s: Christopher Boyle, former Assistant Bishop of Leicester, and Peter Fox, former Bishop of Port Moresby.

Notes

References

Church of England Statistics 2002

External links

Diocesan websiteDiocese of Leicester website, list of parish church websites
{{authority control

Religion in Leicestershire

History

Bishops

See also

Notes

References

External links