The Archdiocese of Hamburg (Lat. ''Archidioecesis Hamburgensis''; Ger. Erzbistum Hamburg) is a

Latin Church The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical ...

ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the

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 ...

in the north of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and covers the Federal States of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

and

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

as well as the

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin, Neubrandenburg, Wismar and Güstrow. ...

ian part of the Federal State of

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its Anglicisation, anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a Federated state, state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's States of Germany, sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpom ...

. In terms of surface area it is the largest in Germany. It is characterized by its situation as a diocese in the

Diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of birth, place of origin. The word is used in reference to people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently resi ...

. Seat of the archbishop is the New St. Mary's Cathedral in Sankt Georg, Hamburg. On January 26, 2015

Stefan Heße Stefan Heße (born 7 August 1966) is a Catholic Church in Germany, German Catholic prelate who has served as Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hamburg, Archbishop of Hamburg since 2015. The youngest diocesan bishop in Germany, he has often been outspo ...

, '' Generalvikar'' of the

Archdiocese of Cologne The Archdiocese of Cologne (; ) is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in western North Rhine-Westphalia and northern Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. History At an early date Christianity came to Cologne with the Roman soldiers ...

, was appointed Archbishop of Hamburg.

History

In 831, Hamburg was elevated to an

archbishopric In 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 provinces were administratively associated ...

Pope Gregory IV Pope Gregory IV (; died 25 January 844) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from October 827 to his death on 25 January 844. His pontificate was notable for the papacy’s attempts to intervene in the quarrels between Emperor L ...

and in 834 the

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monk

Ansgar Ansgar (8 September 801 – 3 February 865), also known as Anskar, Saint Ansgar, Saint Anschar or Oscar, was Archbishopric of Bremen, Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen in the northern part of the Kingdom of the East Franks. Ansgar became known as the ...

was elected as the first

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

. After the

looting Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

of Hamburg by

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

, in 845, the archbishopric of Hamburg was united with the bishopric of Bremen, and the archbishop's seat was moved to

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

. Still, there was a cathedral chapter in Hamburg with several special rights, which started to build St. Mary's Cathedral. The incumbents of the

Hamburg-Bremen The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen () was an ecclesiastical principality (787–1566/1648) of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church that after its definitive secularization in 1648 became the hereditary Duchy of Bremen (). The prince-ar ...

see are usually titled Archbishop of Hamburg and Bishop of Bremen between 848 and 1072, however, some later archbishops continued the tradition of naming both dioceses until 1258. During the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

the bishopric underwent steady deterioration and finally, with the

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire ...

in 1648, it ceased to exist. By the apostolic constitution ''Omnium Christifidelium'' of

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

, of October 24, 1994 coming into effect on January 7, 1995, the archdiocese of Hamburg was erected again. Today it consists of territory that once belonged to the dioceses of

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; ; archaic English: ''Osnaburg'') is a city in Lower Saxony in western Germany. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population of 168 ...

, and

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; or ; ) is a city in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim (district), Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of t ...

, namely the Free and Hanse-City of

, the State of

and the half-State of

. The cathedral and the vicar-general are seated in the city-quarter Sankt Georg which is located in the borough of Hamburg-Central.

Ordinaries

* Ludwig Averkamp (24 October 1994 – 16 February 2002) * Werner Thissen (22 November 2002 – 24 March 2014) *

(26 January 2015 – present)

References

External links

*
Official site
{{Authority control

Christianity in Hamburg Christianity in Schleswig-Holstein Christianity in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Organisations based in Hamburg

Roman Catholic ecclesiastical provinces in Germany