Roman Catholic Diocese of Balecium

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Balecium (Latin name) or of Balecio/Balezo (in Curiate/Venetian Italian) or of Baleč (in Serbian) is a former Latin Rite bishopric and present titular see of the Catholic Church in Albania. The town that was its seat was destroyed in 1356 by the kingdom of Rascia.

History

Circa 1300 was established a Diocese of Balecio alias Balezo.

At the beginning of the 14th century, Baleč was the see of a small Catholic diocese.[1] In 1356, Bishop Andreas Citer complained that his bishopric was full of schismatics.[2] The diocese had been laid waste and impoverished by Serbian "schismatics of the kingdom of Rascia", who had completely destroyed the monastery situated 5000 paces from the cathedral. In response, Pope Innocent VI granted him in commendam, on 26 September of the same year, the Benedictine monastery of St. John in Drivast.[3][4] At this time Baleč must have ceased to exist as a town, so that, although bishops continued to be appointed to the see,[5][6] by 1448, when even the fortress rebuilt by Skanderbeg was destroyed, the town was no more than a memory.[7]

In 1500 the bishopric was formally suppressed.

Residential suffragan bishops

(all Roman Rite)

Titular see

The bishopric of Balecium, no longer a residential see, is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see [8] since it was nominally restored as Latin titular bishopric under the names Balecium or Balecio.

It has had the following incumbents, all of the fitting episcopal (lowest) rank :

  1. Johannes Theodor Suhr, Benedictine Order (O.S.B.) (1938.12.13 – 1953.04.29)
  2. Agostino Baroni, Comboni Missionaries (M.C.C.J.) (1953.06.29 – 1974.12.12) (later Archbishop)
  3. Amaury Castanho (1976.07.19 – 1979.11.30)
  4. Claude Feidt (1980.07.05 – 1985.02.16), later Archbishop
  5. Peter Kang U-il (1985.12.21 – 2002.07.20)
  6. Franz Lackner, Friars Minor (O.F.M.) (2002.10.23 – 2013.11.18)
  7. Herwig Gössl (24 January 2014 - ...), Auxiliary Bishop of Bamberg (Germany)

References

  1. ↑ Božić, Ivan (1979), Nemirno pomorje XV veka (in Serbian), Beograd: Srpska književna zadruga, p. 301, OCLC 5845972, Број ситних епископија које су окупљене око епископије у Бару управо је зачуђујући, множећи се до 14. века оне су основане у .... Балечу... "
  2. ↑ Slijepčević, Đoko M. (1983). Srpsko-arbanaški odnosi kroz vekove sa posebnim osvrtom na novije vreme (in Serbian). Himelstir. p. 61. Retrieved 7 July 2011. У Балезу, код Коплика, био је бискуп и овај се 1356. године жали архиепископу барскоме, да је његова бискупија пуна шизматика
  3. ↑ Antonović, Miloš (2003), Town and district in littoral of Zeta and northern Albania in 14th and 15th century (in Serbian), Belgrade: Istorijski institut, p. 57, ISBN 978-86-7743-031-3, OCLC 55953999, retrieved 21 January 2012, Инокентије VI је 26. септембра 1356. г. дао балечком епископу Андрији у коменду бенедиктански манастир Св. Јована у Дривасту. Као разлог за овај неуобичајен потез, јер Дриваст има свог епископа, наведено је да је манастир после смрти опата Андрије "растурен" од тамошњих шизматика, као и сама балечка дијецеза.
  4. ↑ .Wissenschaftliche Mitteilungen aus Bosnien und der Hercegowina, Volume 10 (1907), p. 6. Quote: ... welches Kloster als "ab regni Rasciae schismaticis quasi totaliter dissipatum" bezeichnet wird; die Verleihung dieser Pfründe erfolgte, weil die Diözese von Balecium von den Schismatikern verwüstet worden und verarmt war. Das Kloster, welches als von der Kirche von Balesium 5000 Schritte entfernt bezeichnet wird ...
  5. ↑ Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, Leipzig 1931, pp. 395-396
  6. ↑ Konrad Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi, vol. 1, pp. 125-126; vol. 2, p. 101
  7. ↑ .Wissenschaftliche Mitteilungen aus Bosnien und der Hercegowina, Volume 10 (1907), p. 6. Quote: Balesium dürfte als Stadt um die Mitte der 14. Jahrhunderts zu bestehen aufgehört haben, so daß im Jahre 1448 wirklich nichts mehr als die Erinnerung existierte.
  8. ↑ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 845

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