Roman Catholic Diocese of Skopje

Diocese of Skopje
Dioecesis Scopiensis
Скопска бискупија

Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Skopje)
Location
Country Macedonia
Ecclesiastical province Archdiocese of Vrhbosna
Statistics
Area 30,010 km2 (11,590 sq mi)
Population
- Total
- Catholics		 (as of 2010)
2,350,000[1]
3,650[1] (0.2%)
Parishes 2[1]
Information
Denomination Roman Catholic
Rite Roman Rite
Cathedral Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Skopje)
Co-cathedral Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart (Bitola)
Secular priests 3[1]
Current leadership
Pope Francis
Bishop Kiro Stojanov
Metropolitan Archbishop Vinko Puljić

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Skopje (Lat:Dioecesis Scopiensis), is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in Macedonia. From the 4th century to 1656, when it was renamed to Archdiocese of Skopje, it was known as the Archdiocese of Dardania. In 1969 along with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Prizren, it formed the Diocese of Skopje-Prizren. In 2000 it became a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna, and the bishop is Kiro Stojanov, appointed in 2005.

History

Originally erected in the 4th century as the ancient Archdiocese of Dardania, the archdiocese was a bulwark of the Roman Empire, as it was on the primary north/south route from Athens to Sirmium. With the great troubles in the Empire, the Archdiocese remained in the Empire long after the fall of Rome. After suffering from a massive earthquake in 518, the metropolitan cathedral was rebuilt along with most of Skopje, by the Emperor Justinian.

Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Bitola

In the 7th century, as the Roman power declined in the Eastern Empire, the Slavs invaded and destroyed the city. No bishops are known from 553 to 882.[2] After being rebuilt, Skopje switched hands several times in the power struggle between the Romans and the Bulgarians, before the eventual collapse of the Bulgarian empire. Until 1014, the Archdiocese was in the hands of the Bulgarians, when the Byzantines finally crushed Tsar Samoil, and reincorporated them within the empire.

There were Catholic bishops in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries[2] but Skopje remained Byzantine until 1282 when it was conquered by Serbia. After the arrival of the Ottomans and the defeat of the Serbs in the battle of Kosovo (1389), Skopje was conquered by Ottomans in 1392. It would be three centuries before Catholic see would be revived again: it was a titular see from 1346 to 1656.[2] In 1656, after the defeat of the Turks in the battle of Vienna, the city was raided and taken by the Austrians, and the archdiocese was finally restored and renamed the Archdiocese of Skopje (Scopia). This marked a brief interlude, as the Turks pressed them back and the see was suppressed once again under the Turks. The archbishops had to reside in the Albanian mountains.[2]

The modern history of the diocese begins after the Greek rebellion in 1816, with the appointment of Matej Krasniqi (Matthaes Crasnich) as the first resident archbishop of Skopje in over 500 years of Turkish occupation. Since then, there has been an unbroken string of bishops, who resided in Uskup from 1860.[2] In 1924, after the devastation of the first world war, the archdiocese was downgraded to a diocese, and became a suffragan to the archdiocese of Vrhbosna. In 1969, the diocese was merged with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Prizren, and became the Diocese of Skopje-Prizren. In 2000, they were split once again, as the portion that was formerly the diocese of Prizren became the Apostolic Administration of Prizren, and the Diocese of Skopje returned to its former name.

Ordinaries

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Diocese of Skopje". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Archdiocese of Scopia - Wikisource, the free online library". en.wikisource.org. Retrieved 2014-03-06.
  3. ↑ Bahlcke, Joachim (2005). Ungarischer Episkopat und österreichische Monarchie: Von einer Partnerschaft zur Konfrontation(1686-1790). Franz Steiner Verlag. pp. 104–105. ISBN 3515087648. Im Fall des Graner Domherm Hiacynth Macripodari etwa, den Ferdinand III. Im Juli 1645 zum Titularbischof von Skopje emannt hatte, kam es in Rom … Im Januar 1647 und im April 1649 emeuerte der Konig die Nomination auf Bitten und Drangen des griechischen Dominikaners, … Erst danach leitete Kardinal Girolamo Colonna den Informativprozeb fur Macripodari ein, der wenig spatter vom Heiligen Stuhl als Titularbichof von Skopje bestatigt und konsekriert wurde.
  4. ↑ Tóth, István György. Missions and Missionaries among the Csángó Hungarians in Moldova in the 17th Century (PDF). pp. 145–147. Dominican Giacinto Macripodari, future Bishop of Csanád, was one of the most interesting Dominican missionaries in Moldavia…He arrived in Vienna in the same year and King Ferdinand III nominated him, at the intercession of the envoy of Istanbul, the bishop of the Macedonian Skopje. …Many backed the plan of Macripodari to become Bishop of Bákó, including the vojvode himself. There were many Greeks among the boyars and the merchants of the court who, although they were Orthodox, got on well with a fellow Greek, the Chian Macripodari.
  5. ↑ Dominicans. Provincia romana (1942). Memorie domenicane, Volumes 59-63. Convento di S Maria Novella. p. 35. GIACINTO MACRIPODARI - Vescovo di Skoplje, nominato dal re d'Ungheria, 1645, luglio 29; confermato dalla SS. 1649, ott. 11- Vescovo di Csanàd, nominato dal re 1658, febbr. 27; confermato dalla SS. dopo il 2 maggio 1668. — Archivum FF.
  6. ↑ Hofmann, Georg (1934). Vescovadi cattolici della Grecia. Pont. Institutum Orientalium Studiorum. p. 34. OCLC 403482. Nell’ Albania fu vescovo Giacinto Macripodari a SCOPIA (Uskub) 1649–1669.
  7. ↑ Zanella, Luana (2006). L'altra guerra del Kosovo: il patrimonio della cristianità serbo-ortodossa da salvare. Casadei Libri. p. 29. ISBN 978-88-89466-07-0.
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