Roman Catholic Diocese of Ajaccio

Diocese of Ajaccio
Dioecesis Adiacensis
Diocèse d'Ajaccio

Location
Country Corsica France
Ecclesiastical province Marseille
Metropolitan Archdiocese of Marseille
Statistics
Area 8,722 km2 (3,368 sq mi)
Population
- Total
- Catholics
(as of 2012)
278,100
258,200 (92.8%)
Parishes 434
Information
Denomination Roman Catholic
Rite Roman Rite
Established 3rd Century
Cathedral Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption of Ajaccio
Patron saint St Euphrase
Current leadership
Pope Francis
Bishop Olivier de Germay
Metropolitan Archbishop Georges Pontier
Website
Website of the Diocese

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ajaccio (Adjax or Ajax in Latin) is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the whole of the island of Corsica.

Erected in the 3rd century, the diocese was formerly a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Pisa. After the French Concordat of 1801, the diocese became a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Aix, until 2002 when it was attached to the archidiocesan province of Marseille.

Its first bishop known to history was Evander, who assisted at the Council of Rome in 313.

Before the French Revolution, Corsica contained five other dioceses:

The Byzantine ruins at Mariana perpetuate the memory of the church built by the Pisans in the 12th century.

There is a legend that the bishops banished from Africa to Corsica in 484 by Hunneric, Arian King of the Vandals, built with their own hands the primitive cathedral of Ajaccio. The present cathedral, dating from the end of the 16th century, owes its construction to the initiative of Gregory XIII, who while still Ugo Buoncompagni, spent some time at Ajaccio as papal legate. The see was left vacant for five years, during which time the diocesan revenues were applied to the building of the cathedral. It was finished by Bishop Giustiniani after his nomination.

Liturgical services are held according to the Greek Byzantine rite in the village of Cargèse, founded in 1676 by the descendants of the Greek aristocrat Stephen Comnenus (Stephanos Comnenos), whom the Ottoman Turks had expelled from the Peloponnesus.

Ordinaries

Bishop Olivier de Germay

Source and external links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Roman Catholic Diocese of Ajaccio.

Coordinates: 41°54′59″N 8°43′47″E / 41.91639°N 8.72972°E / 41.91639; 8.72972

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, May 06, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.