The Roman Catholic Diocese of Mysore () is 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 ...

Latin

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 ...

, in the

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian churches, including those of both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, that have traditional hierarchical structures. An ecclesiastical province consist ...

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

in southern India, yet depends on the missionary

Dicastery for Evangelization The Dicastery for Evangelization is a department (dicastery) of the Roman Curia. It was created on 5 June 2022 through the merger of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization and the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peop ...

. Its

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

episcopal see is St. Philomena's Cathedral in the city of

Mysore Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

Statistics

As per 2014, it pastorally served 105,113 Catholics (1.0% of 10,056,000 total) on 21,051 km² in 77 parishes with 157 priests (114 diocesan, 43 religious), 1,224 lay religious (309 brothers, 915 sisters) and 19 seminarians.

History

* Established on 16 March 1845 as a Pro-Vicariate of Mysore - Bangalore, on territory split off (depending on the source) either from the Apostolic Vicariate of Pondicherry or from the then Apostolic Vicariate of Madura and Coromandel Coast (now Diocese of Tiruchirapalli) * Promoted on 3 April 1850 as the

Apostolic Vicariate An apostolic vicariate is a territorial jurisdiction of the Catholic Church under a titular bishop centered in missionary regions and countries where dioceses or parishes have not yet been established. The status of apostolic vicariate is often ...

of Mysore - Bangalore * Promoted on 1 September 1886 as Diocese of Mysore - Bangalore in the Ecclesiastical Metropolitan Province of Pondicherry * Lost territories repeatedly : on 12 June 1923 to establish Diocese of Calicut, on 26 May 1930 to establish Diocese of Salem, on 13 February 1940 to establish Diocese of Bangalore, on 3 July 1955 to establish Diocese of Ootacamund and on 16 November 1963 to establish Diocese of Chikmagalur.

Episcopal ordinaries

(all

Latin Rite Latin Rite may refer to: *The Latin Church, a ''sui iuris'' church of the Catholic Church *The Latin liturgical rites, a family of Christian rites and uses which includes the Roman Rite *The Roman Rite The Roman Rite () is the most common ritua ...

; until 1963 European members of a Latin missionary congregation) ;Apostolic Vicars of Mysore * Étienne-Louis Charbonnaux,

Paris Foreign Missions Society The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris (, , MEP) is a Catholic Missionary order, missionary organization. It is not a religious institute, but an organization of secular clergy, secular priests and Laity, lay persons dedicated to missionary wo ...

(M.E.P.) (born France) (3 April 1850 – death 23 June 1873),

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Iassus (8 July 1844 – 23 June 1873), previously as

Coadjutor Apostolic Vicar An apostolic vicariate is a territorial jurisdiction of the Catholic Church under a titular bishop centered in missionary regions and countries where dioceses or parishes have not yet been established. The status of apostolic vicariate is often ...

of Verapoly (India) (8 July 1844 – 3 April 1850) * Joseph-Auguste Chevalier, M.E.P. (born France) (11 November 1873 – death 25 March 1880), Titular Bishop of Germanicopolis (11 November 1873 – 25 March 1880) * Jean-Yves-Marie Coadou, M.E.P. (born France) (20 August 1880 – 25 November 1886 ''see below''), Titular Bishop of Chrysopolis in Arabia (20 August 1880 – 1 September 1886) ;Suffragan Bishops of Mysore * Jean-Yves-Marie Coadou, M.E.P. (''see above'' 25 November 1886 – death 14 September 1890) * Eugène-Louis Kleiner, M.E.P. (born France) (14 September 1890 – retired 2 June 1910), succeeding as former Titular Bishop of Lyrba (20 June 1890 – 14 September 1890) as

Coadjutor Bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

of Mysore (20 June 1890 – 14 September 1890); on emeritate Titular Bishop of Tlous (17 June 1910 – death 19 August 1915) * Augustin-François Baslé, M.E.P. (born France) (2 June 1910 – death 13 September 1915), succeeding as former Titular Bishop of Calynda (15 December 1905 – 2 June 1910) as Coadjutor Bishop of Mysore (15 December 1905 – 2 June 1910) * Hippolyte Teissier, M.E.P. (born France) (4 September 1916 – death 26 February 1922) * Maurice-Bernard-Benoit-Joseph Despatures, M.E.P. (born France) (21 June 1922 – 13 February 1940); next Bishop of

(India) (13 February 1940 – 6 September 1942), emeritate as Titular Bishop of Benda (6 September 1942 – death 26 August 1963) * René-Jean-Baptiste-Germain Feuga, M.E.P. (born France) (3 April 1941 – retired 20 November 1962), stayed on as

Apostolic Administrator An apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

20 November 1962 – 16 November 1963) while on emeritates as Titular Bishop of Fornos major (20 November 1962 – death 27 January 1964) *
Sebastião Francisco Mathias Fernandes
(first native incumbent) (16 November 1963 – death 9 May 1985)

(from 22 December 1986 until his death on 17 March 1993)

(19 December 1994 – retired 12 February 2003); died 2014

(12 February 2003 – retired 25 January 2017) * Kannikadass William Antony (25 January 2017; suspended on 7 January 2023, resigned 13 January 2024)

Apostolic Administrator

* Bernard Moras (7 January 2023 – present)

References

External links

Mysore Diocese
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mysore, Roman Catholic Diocese Roman Catholic dioceses in India Christianity in Karnataka History of Mysore Religious organizations established in 1850 Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 19th century 1850 establishments in India