Diocese of Lydda (

Lod Lod (, ), also known as Lydda () and Lidd (, or ), is a city southeast of Tel Aviv and northwest of Jerusalem in the Central District of Israel. It is situated between the lower Shephelah on the east and the coastal plain on the west. The ci ...

) is one of the oldest

bishopric 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 associate ...

s of the

early Christian Church Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and bey ...

in the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

. Suppressed under Persian and Arab-Islamic rule, it was revived by the Crusaders and remains a Latin Catholic

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

History

early Christian Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and be ...

times, Lydda was a prosperous Jewish town located on the intersection of the North – South and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...

roads. According to the Bible, Lod was founded by Semed of the Israelite

Tribe of Benjamin According to the Torah, the Tribe of Benjamin () was one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The tribe was descended from Benjamin, the youngest son of the Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch Jacob (later given the name Israel) and his wife Rachel. In the ...

; Some of its inhabitants were led into Babylonian exile, part of them returned, but by mid second century, the king of Syria gave it to the

Maccabees The Maccabees (), also spelled Machabees (, or , ; or ; , ), were a group of Jews, Jewish rebel warriors who took control of Judea, which at the time was part of the Seleucid Empire. Its leaders, the Hasmoneans, founded the Hasmonean dynasty ...

, who kept control until the arrival of Roman conqueror

Pompei Pompei (; ), also known in English as Pompeii ( ) after the name of the ancient city, is a city and in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Italy. It contains the ancient Roman ruins of Pompeii, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. History Modern Po ...

Judea Judea or Judaea (; ; , ; ) is a mountainous region of the Levant. Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, it is now part of Palestine and Israel. The name's usage is historic, having been used in antiquity and still into the pres ...

Flavius Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a History of the Jews in the Roman Empire, Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing ''The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Judaea ...

confirms

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

gave it in 48 BC to the Hebrews, but Cassius sold the population in 44 BC,

Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman people, Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the Crisis of the Roman Republic, transformation of the Roman Republic ...

released them two years later. The city saw Roman civil wars and Hebrew revolts in the first century, was officially renamed Diospolis, but remained known as Lod or Lydda. Christians established themselves there after Saint Peter preached there and cured the paralytic Eneas. A church was built when

Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...

visited the city between 31–36AD. By 120 AD most of the inhabitants were

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

. The episcopal see was established by the first

Byzantine emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

Constantin the Great, as

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 Caesarea in Palestina, in the sway of the original Patriarchate of Jerusalem. In December 415, the Council of Diospolis was held in the

to try British monk

Pelagius Pelagius (; c. 354–418) was a British (Celtic Britons, Brittonic) theologian known for promoting a system of doctrines (termed Pelagianism by his opponents) which emphasized human choice in salvation and denied original sin. Pelagius was accus ...

; he was acquitted but his heresy

Pelagianism Pelagianism is a Christian theological position that holds that the fall did not taint human nature and that humans by divine grace have free will to achieve human perfection. Pelagius (), an ascetic and philosopher from the British Isles, ta ...

condemned. The earliest historically recorded

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

is Aëtius, a friend of

Arius Arius (; ; 250 or 256 – 336) was a Cyrenaica, Cyrenaic presbyter and asceticism, ascetic. He has been regarded as the founder of Arianism, which holds that Jesus Christ was not Eternity, coeternal with God the Father, but was rather created b ...

The city was renamed ''Georgiopolis'' after local martyr

St George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the R ...

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

of England, who was born Lod and buried on the site of the basilica of Georgius, first mentioned about 530 by pilgrim Theodosius. It suffered gravely under pagan Persian border incursions and faded at the advent of Arab Muslims. ;''Byzantine Suffragan Bishops of Lydda/ Diopolis/ Georgiopolis'' *'' (according to tradition) Zenas the Lawyer '' * Aëtius, a friend of

(fl. 325 - death before 335) * Dionysius (fl. 381 - death before 415) * Photinus (fl. 449 - 451) * Apollonius (fl. 518) * Eustatius

Latin Crusader bishopric

In 1099, during the triumphant

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the Middle Ages. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Muslim conquest ...

(1096–1099), Lydda and Arab neighbour town Ramla were assigned to Robert, a Norman known after his natal diocese Rouen (in

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

, France, where conquering Vikings were christianized only a few generations). This briefly created the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lydda and Ramla. The crusaders seized

Ramla Ramla (), also known as Ramle (, ), is a city in the Central District of Israel. Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with significant numbers of both Jews and Arabs. The city was founded in the early 8th century CE by the Umayyad caliph S ...

without fight on 3 June 1099, because the Muslim garrison had left the town before their arrival. Located at the crossing of two roads, Ramla was a strategically important fortress. The nearby Lydda was the most important shrine of the warrior saint,

Saint George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...

. The crusaders held an assembly and decided to establish a bishopric in the town. Robert was installed as virtual

prince-bishop A prince-bishop is a bishop who is also the civil ruler of some secular principality and sovereignty, as opposed to '' Prince of the Church'' itself, a title associated with cardinals. Since 1951, the sole extant prince-bishop has been the ...

, wielding temporal feudal power as well as religious jurisdiction, obliged to supply a cavalry contingent to the

Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as the Crusader Kingdom, was one of the Crusader states established in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade. It lasted for almost two hundred years, from the accession of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1 ...

. In 1110 civil jurisdiction over Ramla was split off as a separate

Lordship of Ramla The Lordship of Ramla was one of the lordships in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was vassal to and part of the County of Jaffa and Ascalon. History During the First Crusade, Ramla was abandoned by its Muslim inhabitants, as it lacked the defense ...

, vested in Baldwin. Saint George's church was burned by Muslims in 1099, but rebuild larger, shifted to the northeast, in the 12th century by the Crusaders as Latin cathedral, but again destroyed by Saracens in 1191, in the fight against English crusader king Richard Lionheart, the

of both knighthood and England being of great significance to his troops. ;''Latin Suffragan Bishops of Lydda'' * Robert of Rouen c 1099 *

Roger Roger is a masculine given name, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic languages">Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") ...

fl. 1110 (Catholic) * Constantinus (fl. 1154–1160) * Reinier = Ranierus (fl. 1164 - death 1169) * Bernard(us) of Lydda (1168?69–1174?90) * Unknown Bishop of Lydda who spoke to king

Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199), known as Richard the Lionheart or Richard Cœur de Lion () because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior, was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ru ...

Lionheart in 1192. *'' Isias'' (

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

bishop) fl.1202. * Pelagius (? - 27 May 1227), next Bishop of

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

(Spain) * Radulphus = Ralph I (mentioned in 1232) * Ralph of Lydda = Radulfo II † ( fl 1238 - 1244) * Arnaldus (fl. 1250–1253) * William (? - 8 May 1263), next bishop of

Agen Agen (, , ) is the prefecture of the Lot-et-Garonne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Southwestern France. It lies on the river Garonne, southeast of Bordeaux. In 2021, the commune had a population of 32,485. Geography The city of Agen l ...

(France) * John Bishop of Lydda (before 1267 - after 1271) * Godfrey (in 1286), ?Franciscan.

Titular Latin bishopric

As the Crusader kingdom fell to Saladin, Lydda was truly ''

in partibus infidelium A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...

''. From the 15th century, it was a Latin

titular bishopric A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...

both under the names Lydda and Diospolis in Palaestina, with a messy proliferation of titular incumbents the next century with up to eleven titular bishops 'on' the see of Lydda. ;''Titular Bishops of Lydda/ Diospolis'' * Benedikt Sibenhirter, (20 Nov 1452 – 10 May 1458) * Thomas Lydensis (fl. 1495) * Nicolaus de Braciano, (29 April 1504 – 1509) * Hermanus Nigenbroch, (7 Nov 1509 – 1511) * Petrus Antonii (18 July 1511 – 1515) * Heinrich von Hattingen (10 Dec 1515 - 1519) * Giovanni Brainfort (26 Feb 1517 - 1521) * Thomas Bele (7 June 1521 – 1524) * Pompeo Musacchi (11 May 1524 – ) * Marcus Teggingeri (10 Dec 1568 – ) * Georges Scultetus (3 March 1603 -1613) * Franz Weinhart (26 Feb 1663 – 22 June 1686) * Francisco Varo (5 Feb 1687 – did not take effect) * Giovanni Battista Bruni, (5 August 1765 – 21 Sep 1771) * Johann Baptist Joseph Gobel (27 Jan 1772 – 7 Nov 1793, resigned) * Anselmo Basilici (19 Dec 1814 – 25 May 1818) * Francesco Pichi (25 May 1818 – 21 May 1827) * Robert Gradwell (17 June 1828 – 15 March 1833) * Henri Monnier (23 Feb 1872 – 28 Nov 1916) *

Bernard Nicholas Ward Bernard Nicholas Ward (4 February 1857 – 21 January 1920) was an English prelate who served in the Roman Catholic Church as the Bishop of Brentwood from 1917 until his death in 1920. He was "a distinguished educationalist and the foremost histori ...

(22 March 1917 – 20 July 1917) * Patrice Alexandre Chiasson (27 Jul 1917 – 9 Sep 1920) * Michele Cerrati (15 Sep 1920 – 21 Feb 1925) *

John James Joseph Monaghan John James Joseph Monaghan (May 23, 1856 – January 7, 1935) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Wilmington in Delaware from 1897 to 1925. Biography Early life John Monaghan was born i ...

(10 July 1925 – 7 Jan 1935) * William Richard Griffin (9 March 1935 – 18 March 1944) * Girolamo Bartolomeo Bortignon (4 April 1944 – 9 Sep 1945) *

Lawrence Joseph Shehan Lawrence Joseph Shehan (March 18, 1898 – August 26, 1984) was an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Baltimore from 1961 to 1974. He was made a cardinal in 1965. Shehan previously served as an Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore f ...

(17 Nov 1945 – 25 August 1953) *

Frédéric Duc Frédéric and Frédérick are the French versions of the common male given name Frederick. They may refer to: In artistry: * Frédéric Back, Canadian award-winning animator * Frédéric Bartholdi, French sculptor * Frédéric Bazille, Impressio ...

(11 Jan 1954 – 10 Dec 1970) * Marcelino Sérgio Bicego (6 August 1971 – 26 May 1978) * Jean-Baptiste Gourion, (14 August 2003 – 23 June 2005) * William Hanna Shomali (31 March 2010 - ...)David M. Cheney, 1996–2016 Catholic hierarchy

References

External links

GCatholic - (former and) titular see
* Sabino De Sandoli, ''Corpus Inscriptionum Crucesignatorum Terrae Sanctae'', Jerusalem, Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, 1974. * * Charles D. Du Cange, Nicolas Rodolphe Taranne;

Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey Baron Alban Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey (28 May 1837 – 4 April 1916) was a French archaeologist, topographer and orientalist. He is known for his historical works on Crusader states and on military fortifications in the Near East. He is considered by ...

, ''Les familles d'outre-mer'', Paris, Imprimerie Impériale, 1869, pp. 799-802. * Hans Eberhard Mayer, ''The Origins of the Lordships of Ramla and Lydda in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem'', in ''Speculum'', vol. 60, nº 3, July 1985, pp. 537-552. * Bruno Figliuolo, ''Chiesa e feudalità nei principati latini d'Oriente durante il XII secolo'', in Pietro Zerbi (editor), ''Chiesa e mondo feudale nei secoli X-XII: atti della dodicesima settimana internazionale di studio Mendola, 24-28 agosto 1992'', Vita e Pensiero, 1995, pp. 375-410, . * Victor Guérin, Chapitre III - Loudd, in Description géographique, historique et archéologique de la Palestine: Judée, Imprimerie impériale, 1868, pp. 322-334. * Emil Schürer, ''Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi'', J. C. Hinrichs, 1909, I e II, passim. * Fulcran Vigouroux, ''Dictionnaire de la Bible, Parigi, Letouzey et Ané'', 1895-1912. * Gaetano Moroni, ''Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica'', vol. 38, pp. 195-197 * Pius Bonifacius Gams, ''Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae'', Leipzig 1931, p. 453 * Konrad Eubel, ''Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi'', vol. 1, p. 305; vol. 2, p. 144 e 177; vol. 3, pp. 225 e 344; vol. 4, p. 221; vol. 5, p. 251; vol. 6, p. 270 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lydda, Diocese of Roman Catholic dioceses in the Crusader states

History

Latin Crusader bishopric

Titular Latin bishopric

See also

References

External links