Roman Catholic Diocese of Bruges

The Diocese of Bruges (Latin: Dioecesis Brugensis; Dutch: Bisdom Brugge) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Belgium. It is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese 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 Cathedral in Bruges
Location
CountryBelgium
Ecclesiastical provinceMechelen-Brussels
MetropolitanArchdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels
Coordinates51°12′18″N 3°13′21″E
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 iuris churchLatin Church
RiteRoman Rite
Established12 May 1559
CathedralSt. Salvator's Cathedral in Bruges
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 of West Flanders
Website
https://www.kerknet.be/organisatie/bisdom-brugge

A diocese from 1558 to its suppression in 1801, in 1832 it became a pre-diocesan apostolic vicariate as the Apostolic Administration of West Flanders.[1] Its territory coincides with West Flanders.

The episcopal see of the diocese is St. Salvator's Cathedral, dedicated to Our Savior, in Bruges, West Flanders, which is also a minor basilica. The patron saint of the diocese is Saint Donatian, so the cathedral is also known as Sint-Salvators- en Donaaskathedraal.

Statistics

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

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

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

On 17 December 1832, shortly after the independence of Belgium, the territory was restored as the pre-diocesan Apostolic Administration of West 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 older Diocese of Tournai, shortly after a reshuffle of provincial borders involving a few municipalities, notably Mouscron being transferred to the province of Hainaut (to which the bishopric of Tournai is now limited).

In 1985 the diocese of Bruges experienced a papal visit from Pope 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.[2]

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

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

See also

Notes
  1. "Diocese of Brugge {Bruges}". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  2. "17 maggio 1985, Solenne Celebrazione a Ieper | Giovanni Paolo II". w2.vatican.va.

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