Catholic Intelligence

Diocese of Gurk

Gurcen(sis)

Latin-rite diocese of Gurk-Klagenfurt covering the Austrian state of Carinthia, Austria's second-oldest diocese with its first bishop ordained in 1072, suffragan of the Archdiocese of Salzburg. Though named after Gurk Cathedral, the bishop's see has been in Klagenfurt since 1787. Bishop Josef Marketz, appointed 3 December 2019, has been diocesan bishop since 2 February 2020.

The see

Rank
Suffragan diocese
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
6 March 1071
Latin
Gurcen(sis)
Patron
Saint Hemma, John the Baptist
Annuario code
001001557

The see in figures

Catholics
363,505
Population
560,983
Catholic share
64.8%

of the people living within its bounds

Priests
188
Catholics per priest
1,934
Extent
9,533 km²
Catholics per km²
38

Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.

The bishop

Bishop
Josef Marketz
Born
30 July 1955
Birthplace
Sankt Philippen ob Sonnegg

A see whose chair stands empty is recorded as vacant rather than filled with a guess. On what a bishop is, see the bishop.

The cathedral

Klagenfurt Cathedral stands in Gurk, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.

Its co-cathedral is Gurk Cathedral.

On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.

The province of Salzburg

A suffragan of Archdiocese of Salzburg.

The sees of this province:

On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.

History

The Austrian state of Carinthia forms the territory of the Diocese of Gurk-Klagenfurt (German: Diözese Gurk-Klagenfurt, Slovene: Krška škofija), a Latin Church see within the ecclesiastical province of Salzburg. Although the diocese takes its name from Gurk Cathedral, the bishop has resided at Klagenfurt since 1787. Because of the Carinthian Slovenes living there, the diocese's organizational structures are bilingual, and in 69 southern parishes the Slovene language stands alongside German as the language of church services.

What is kept by invitation

The record above is published because it is public: what this see is, when it was erected, who holds its chair, and where it stands among its neighbours.

The working record is not. The chancery's address, telephone and email, the clergy of the see, and the hours of Mass, confession and adoration in the parishes within it are kept for members, and a person reads every request.

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Sources

The see's own website · Wikipedia

This record is compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. On the method, see the keeping of the record. Whoever finds an error is asked, in charity, to write: [email protected].