Catholic Intelligence

Diocese of Brugge, Bruges

Brugen(sis)

Latin rite diocese covering West Flanders, Belgium, erected in 1559. A suffragan of the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels, its seat is St. Salvator's Cathedral in Bruges, a minor basilica dedicated to Our Savior.

The see

Rank
Suffragan diocese
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
12 May 1559
Latin
Brugen(sis)
Patron
Donatian of Reims
Annuario code
001000964

The see in figures

Catholics
855,940
Population
1,211,193
Catholic share
70.7%

of the people living within its bounds

Priests
307
Catholics per priest
2,788
Extent
3,144 km²
Catholics per km²
272

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
Lode Aerts
Born
28 September 1941
Birthplace
Tielen
Institute
SOCIETÀ SALESIANA DI S. GIOVANNI BOSCO (SALESIANI) (S.D.B.)

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

St. Salvator's Cathedral, Bruges stands in Brugge, Bruges, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.

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

The province of Mechelen-Brussels

A suffragan of Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels.

The sees of this province:

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

History

Coinciding in territory with West Flanders, the Diocese of Bruges (Latin: Dioecesis Brugensis; Dutch: Bisdom Brugge) is a Latin Church diocese in Belgium, suffragan to the ecclesiastical province of Mechelen-Brussels, which covers the whole country. A diocese from 1558 until its suppression in 1801, it returned in 1832 as a pre-diocesan apostolic vicariate, the Apostolic Administration of West Flanders. Its episcopal see is St.

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.

Ask to enter

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].