Catholic Intelligence

Diocese of Mainz

Moguntin(us)

The Diocese of Mainz is an ancient Latin Church see in Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse, Germany, with origins in the 4th century, formerly an archbishopric and electorate. Reorganized as a diocese in 1801, it is now a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Freiburg and led by Bishop Peter Kohlgraf since 2017.

The see

Rank
Suffragan diocese
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
340
Latin
Moguntin(us)
Patron
Saint Martin of Tours
Annuario code
001002109

The see in figures

Catholics
686,705
Population
2,982,141
Catholic share
23.0%

of the people living within its bounds

Priests
378
Catholics per priest
1,817
Extent
7,692 km²
Catholics per km²
89

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
Peter Kohlgraf
Born
21 March 1967
Birthplace
Köln

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

Mainz Cathedral stands in Mainz, 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 Freiburg

A suffragan of Archdiocese of Freiburg.

The sees of this province:

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

History

Founded in 304, the see of Mainz (Latin: Diœcesis Moguntina, German: Bistum Mainz), known historically in English as Mentz and by its French name Mayence, was raised in 780 to the Metropolitan Archbishopric of Mainz and returned to the rank of bishopric in 1802. Today it is a suffragan diocese within the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Freiburg, its territory lying across Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. The diocesan seat is the Mainz cathedral dedicated to Saints Martin and Stephen.

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].