The Diocese of

Linköping Linköping ( , ) is a city in southern Sweden, with around 167,000 inhabitants as of 2024. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Chu ...

() is a

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 ...

within the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden () is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.5 million members at year end 2023, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest List ...

administering the

Östergötland County Östergötland County () is a county or '' län'' in southeastern Sweden. It has land borders with the counties of Kalmar to the southeast, Jönköping to the southwest, Örebro to the northwest, and Södermanland to the northeast. It also has a ...

, the north eastern part of

Jönköping County Jönköping County () is a county or '' län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Halland, Västra Götaland, Östergötland, Kalmar and Kronoberg. The total county population was 356,291 inhabitants in September 2017. The capita ...

and the northern part of

Kalmar County Kalmar County () is a Counties of Sweden, county or ''län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Kronoberg County, Kronoberg, Jönköping County, Jönköping, Blekinge County, Blekinge and Östergötland County, Östergötland. To the ...

. It comprises nine deaneries subdivided into 176

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

es with a total of 443,000 members. The diocese's largest parish is

Motala Motala () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Motala Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with a municipal population of 43,717 inhabitants in 2024. It is the third largest city of Östergötland, following Linköping and N ...

. The Diocese of Linköping has a rank directly below the Archdiocese of Uppsala of the Church of Sweden. The current bishop is Marika Markovits. The diocesan territory comprises

and parts of

Jönköping Jönköping (, ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants (2022). Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland. The city is the seat o ...

and

. It has 212 parishes with a total of 443,000 members.

Pre-Reformation history

The diocese originally included

Småland Småland () is a historical Provinces of Sweden, province () in southern Sweden. Småland borders Blekinge, Scania, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name ''Småland'' literally means "small la ...

Östergötland Östergötland (; English exonym: East Gothland) is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish) in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland and the Baltic Sea. In older English li ...

, the Islands of

Gotland Gotland (; ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a Provinces of Sweden, province/Counties of Sweden, county (Swedish län), Municipalities of Sweden, municipality, a ...

and

Öland Öland (, ; ; sometimes written ''Oland'' internationally) is the second-largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area of and is located in the Baltic Sea just off the coast of Småland. ...

. The district of Värend in

was taken from Linköping and formed into the Diocese of Växjö about 1160. From 990 to 1100 the Diocese of Skara embraced the whole country of the Goths ( Gauthiod); it was then divided between those of Skara and Linköping. The diocese was a

suffragan 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 ...

of the

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

, and became a suffragan of the

Diocese of Lund The Diocese of Lund () is a diocese within the Church of Sweden which corresponds to the provinces of Blekinge and Skåne. There are 217 parishes within the diocese, the most significant number in any of the dioceses of the Church of Sweden. Th ...

, when the latter was elevated to an

archdiocese 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 ...

in 1104. The first three bishops of Linköping were Herbert, Richard and Gisle (c. 1138–48). Then came Stenar, who apparently resigned in 1160 and subsequently became Bishop of Vexiö. Notable bishops after him were Kol (c. 1160–96), who died on a pilgrimage in Jerusalem, Bengt Magnusson, who was killed at the

Battle of Lihula The Battle of Lihula or Battle of Leal was fought between invading Sweden, Swedes and Estonians for the control of a castle in Lihula, Estonia in 1220. The exact date remains uncertain, though some historians suggest that the battle took place ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

on 8 August 1220, and Benedict (1220–37). The last Catholic bishop of Linköping was Hans Brask (born 1464; bishop, 1513–27; died 30 July 1539). He was compelled to leave his diocese in 1527 owing to the adoption of

Lutheranism Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

in Sweden at the Diet of Västerås.

Council of Skenninge

Of the numerous provincial and diocesan synods held in the Diocese of Linköping, the Council of Skenninge (1248) was the most important. The

papal legate 300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the Pope's legate. A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title '' legatus'') is a personal representative of the Pope to foreign nations, to some other part of the Catho ...

Cardinal William of Sabina William of Modena ( – 31 March 1251), also known as ''William of Sabina'', ''Guglielmo de Chartreaux'', ''Guglielmo de Savoy'', ''Guillelmus'', was an Italian clergyman and papal diplomat.

, presided and the

celibacy Celibacy (from Latin ''caelibatus'') is the state of voluntarily being unmarried, sexually abstinent, or both. It is often in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, the term ''celibacy'' is applied ...

of the clergy was strongly enforced. The following religious institutions were set up in the diocese between the twelfth and the sixteenth centuries: the

cathedral chapter According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. In ...

, which consisted at the time of the Reformation of a dean, an

archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denomina ...

, a subdean, nine canons and fifteen other prebendaries; the

Cistercians The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

had three houses for men, the abbeys of Alvastra, the mother-house of the Cistercian Order in Sweden, in

and Nydala in Småland, both founded in 1143, and Gutvalla ( Roma) in

; also four nunneries, Vreta Abbey (1160), Askaby, Byarum, dissolved about 1250 and the nuns transferred to Sko (in Upland) and Solberga Abbey (Gotland); the Brigittines, who had the great Abbey of Vadstena; the Dominicans, who possessed priories at Skenninge (1220?), Visby (1240) and Kalmar, as well as nunneries at Skenninge (1260) and Kalmar (1286). There were hospitals at Linköping, Visby (2), Söderköping (2) Skenninge (2), Kalmar (2), Norrabygd (Uknabäck) and on the Island of

. Most of these institutions were suppressed at 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 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Diocese of Linkoping Östergötland County Linkoping Jönköping County Kalmar County Former Catholic dioceses in Sweden Dioceses established in the 12th century 12th-century establishments in Sweden

Pre-Reformation history

Council of Skenninge

See also

References

External links