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Roman Catholic Diocese of Bruges

TheDiocese of Bruges(Latin:Dioecesis Brugensis;Dutch:Bisdom Brugge) is aLatin Churchecclesiastical territory ordioceseof theCatholic Church in Belgium.It is asuffraganin theecclesiastical provinceof themetropolitanArchdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels,which covers all of Belgium.

Diocese of Bruges

Dioecesis Brugensis

Bisdom Brugge(Dutch)
Diocèse de Bruges(French)
Bistum Brügge(German)
St. Salvator's CathedralinBruges
Location
CountryBelgium
Ecclesiastical provinceMechelen-Brussels
MetropolitanArchdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels
Coordinates51°12′18″N3°13′21″E/ 51.204977°N 3.222416°E/51.204977; 3.222416
Statistics
Area3,145 km2(1,214 sq mi)
Population
- Total
- Catholics		(as of 2020)
1,197,690
846,400 (70.7%)
Information
DenominationCatholic Church
Sui iurischurchLatin Church
RiteRoman Rite
Established12 May 1559
CathedralSt. Salvator's CathedralinBruges
Patron saintDonatian of Reims
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
BishopLodewijk Aerts
Metropolitan ArchbishopJozef De Kesel
Bishops emeritusRoger Vangheluwe
Map
The diocese of Bruges, coextensive with the province of West Flanders
The diocese of Bruges, coextensive with the province ofWest Flanders
Website
https://www.kerknet.be/organisatie/bisdom-brugge

A diocese from 1558 to its suppression in 1801, in 1832 it became a pre-diocesanapostolic vicariateas theApostolic Administration of West Flanders.[1]Its territory coincides withWest Flanders.

The episcopal see of the diocese isSt. Salvator's Cathedral,dedicated toOur Savior,inBruges,West Flanders, which is also aminor basilica.Thepatron saintof the diocese isDonatian of Reims,[2]so the cathedral is also known asSint-Salvators- en Donaaskathedraal.

Statistics

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As of 2014,it pastorally served 965,000 Catholics (82.1% of 1,174,752 total) on 3,145 km² in 362 parishes and 65 missions with 708 priests (499 diocesan, 209 religious), 91 deacons, 1,986 lay religious (290 brothers, 1,696 sisters) and 7 seminarians.

History

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An earlier diocese of Bruges was established on 12 May 1558, on territory split off from theDiocese of Tournai,as part of the great Habsburg reform of the church in the thenSpanish Low Countries.Its see,St. Donatian's Cathedral,was destroyed in a fire in 1799 during the aftermath of theFrench Revolution.

During the reforms under theNapoleonic Concordate,the diocese was suppressed on 15 July 1801 and its territory merged into theDiocese of Ghent.

On 17 December 1832, shortly after the independence ofBelgium,the territory was restored as the pre-diocesanApostolic AdministrationofWest Flanders.On 27 May 1834, the territory was again promoted to diocese and renamed after its see, Bruges, while the incumbent Apostolic Administrator became Suffragan Bishop. On 31 May 1967 the diocese lost a portion of territory to the much olderDiocese of Tournai,shortly after a reshuffle of provincial borders involving a few municipalities, notablyMouscronbeing transferred to theprovince of Hainaut(to which the bishopric of Tournai is now limited).

In 1985 the diocese of Bruges experienced a papal visit fromPope John Paul II,who on 17 May gave a homily on the horrors of war at Ypres as part of his pastoral visit to the Low Countries.[3]

A 2010 scandal saw BishopRoger Vangheluwe,a confessed and hardly remorseful pederast, forced into early retirement.

Ordinaries

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Franciscus Renatus Boussen,eighteenth bishop of Brugge
Lode Aerts, bishop as of 2016
Suffragan Bishops (first diocese)
Apostolic Administrator of West Flanders
Suffragan Bishops (restored)

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^"Diocese of Brugge {Bruges}".Catholic-Hierarchy.org.David M. Cheney.Retrieved23 January2015.
  2. ^"Saint Donatian of Rheims".CatholicSaints.info. 17 November 2023.Retrieved13 December2023.
  3. ^"17 maggio 1985, Solenne Celebrazione a Ieper | Giovanni Paolo II".w2.vatican.va.
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Media related toRoman Catholic Diocese of Bruggeat Wikimedia Commons

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