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The Catholic Church in Estonia (Estonian : Katoliku kirik Eestis) is the national branch of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. [1]
At the beginning of the 13th century, Estonia was conquered by the German Teutonic Order during the Livonian Crusade and thus was one of the last territories in Europe to be Christianized. However, some archaeological evidence suggests that Christianity was already known centuries prior to the conquest. Based on archaeological relics, such as crosses and metal book corners, some areas of Estonia were Christian prior to the 13th century.
The whole of Estonia was subjugated by the year 1227 and, until the mid 16th century, Estonia was divided among feudal landlords and, thus, Catholic territory, although not yet unified.
During the Livonian War, medieval Estonia was conquered by the Swedes, initially occupying northern Estonia and, later, the southern part. Swedish rule, from 1561–1710, banned Catholicism for the benefit of the Lutheran Church.
In the Great Northern War Sweden lost Estonia to Russia, which governed the land from 1710 to 1918. Imperial Russia granted vast privileges to the resident Baltic-German nobility of Estonia, including freedom to practice their Lutheran faith. During the 18th century, Polish and then Lithuanian Catholic noblemen started to make their own use of this right. The first Catholic mass, after more than a hundred years, was held on 18 January 1786. There were less than 300 Catholics in Estonia at that time dependent on the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mohilev (Estonia was part of this Archdiocese until 1918). Catholicism began its revival. On 26 December 1845, the new Catholic Church of Tallinn (now Tallinn Catholic Cathedral) was consecrated, followed by the new Catholic Church of Tartu (Immaculate Conception church) in 1899.
In 1918, when Estonia gained independence, Estonian citizens had complete freedom of religion. The Holy See recognized Estonia on 10 October 1921. In 1931 Eduard Profittlich, S.J. became the apostolic administrator for the Catholic Church in Estonia. In 1936 he was consecrated as the first Estonian Catholic bishop since the Lutheran reformation in the 16th century. Before World War II broke out, there were almost 5,000 Catholics in Estonia (Tallinn: 2.333, Tartu: 1.073, Narva: ca. 600, Valga: ca. 800).
In 1940 Estonia was invaded by the Soviets and organised religion was prohibited. The majority of the 5000 Catholic faithful either escaped the country or were imprisoned in Soviet prison camps. They arrested Bishop Profittlich who subsequently died in a Soviet prison in Siberia in 1942 after being sentenced to death as a Vatican spy. His cause for beatification as a martyr has been opened. [2] During the Soviet occupation, all Estonia's Catholic churches were closed and the Catholic population of Estonia decreased below 100 adherents and 1 underground priest who were all heavily persecuted by the KGB.[ citation needed ]
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Estonia regained its independence and was re-recognized by the Holy See on 28 August 1991. Estonia received its first papal visit when Pope John Paul II visited the country in September 1993.
The Catholic population of Estonia is small, but has seen a rapid increase since the end of the Soviet rule.
In 2020, estimates suggested that there were 7,000 Catholics in the country (0.5% of the population); [3] this included 31 priests and nuns across 10 parishes. Most are of Estonian background but also many Lithuanians and Poles. Most live in the major towns such as Tallinn, Tartu, and Narva. Estonia had no dioceses after 1560 but after 1924 the whole country formed an apostolic administration. From 2005 to 2024 the Apostolic Administrator of Estonia who resides in Tallinn was Bishop Philippe Jourdan. He then became bishop of the newly established Diocese of Tallinn, which encompasses all of Estonia. Two parishes in Estonia (Tallinn and Tartu) are of the Greek Catholic Church and serve a mostly Ukrainian congregation. [4]
Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,435. It is 186 kilometres southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the two largest lakes in Estonia, Lake Võrtsjärv and Lake Peipus. From the 13th century until the end of the 19th century, Tartu was known in most of the world by variants of its historical name Dorpat.
Narva is a municipality and city in Estonia. It is located in the Ida-Viru County, at the eastern extreme point of Estonia, on the west bank of the Narva river which forms the Estonia–Russia international border. With 53,626 inhabitants Narva is Estonia's third largest city after capital Tallinn and Tartu.
The Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church is a Lutheran church in Estonia. EELC is member of the Lutheran World Federation and belongs to the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe. It is also a member of the Porvoo Communion, putting it in full communion with the Church of England and other Anglican churches in Europe.
Rakvere is the administrative centre, or county seat, of Lääne-Viru County in northern Estonia, about 100 km southeast of Tallinn and 20 km south of the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea. From the 13th century until the early 20th century, Rakvere was more widely known by its historical German name Wesenberg(h).
Philippe Jean-Charles Jourdan is a French-born Estonian Catholic prelate who has served as the first Bishop of Tallinn since 2024, after serving as Apostolic Administrator of Estonia from 2005 to 2024. He has lived and worked in Estonia since 1996 and became an Estonian citizen in 2005.
The Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church is an Orthodox church in Estonia under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. Under Estonian law, it is the legal successor to the pre–World War II Estonian Orthodox Church, which in 1940 had over 210,000 faithful, three bishops, 156 parishes, 131 priests, 19 deacons, two monasteries, and a theological seminary; the majority of the faithful were ethnic Estonians.
The Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate is a semi-autonomous church in the canonical jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Moscow whose primate is appointed by the Holy Synod of the latter.
The official language of Estonia is Estonian, a Uralic language of the Finnic branch, which is related to Finnish. It is unrelated to the bordering Russian and Latvian languages, both of which are Indo-European.
The following is an alphabetical list of articles related to the Republic of Estonia.
This article covers the architecture of Estonia.
Estonia, historically a Lutheran Christian nation, is today one of the least religious countries in the world in terms of declared attitudes, with only 14 percent of the population declaring religion to be an important part of their daily life. This is thought to largely be a result of the Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1940, prior to which Estonia had a large Christian majority - according to the 1922 census, 99.3% of the Estonian population were Christians.
Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Lake Peipus and Russia. The territory of Estonia consists of the mainland, the larger islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, and over 2,300 other islands and islets on the east coast of the Baltic Sea, covering a total area of 45,335 square kilometres (17,504 sq mi). Tallinn and Tartu are the two largest urban areas. The Estonian language is the official language and the first language of the majority of the population of 1.4 million.
Eastern Orthodoxy in Estonia is practiced by 16.5% of the population as of 2011, making it the most identified religion and Christian denomination in this majority-secular state after surpassing Lutheran Christianity with 9.1% for first time in country's modern history. Eastern Orthodoxy, or more specifically Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is mostly practiced within Estonia's Russian ethnic minority and minority within native population. According to the 2000 Estonian census, 72.9% of those who identified as Orthodox Christians were of Russian descent.
Estonia under Swedish rule (1561–1710) signifies the period of time when large parts of the country, and after 1645, entire present-day Estonia, were under Swedish rule. In the wake of the breakup of the State of the Teutonic Order, the Baltic German local nobility in the areas of Harrien (Harjumaa) and Wierland (Virumaa), as well as the city of Reval (Tallinn) in June 1561 asked for and were granted protection by the Swedish king Eric XIV, leading to Swedish involvement in the Livonian War. At the conclusion of hostilities in 1583, Sweden was in control of the northern parts of modern Estonia and Dagö ; the Duchy of Estonia was created from this territory. Following renewed wars between Poland and Sweden, the southern parts of present-day Estonia were incorporated into Sweden by the Treaty of Altmark in 1629. Sweden also conquered the island of Ösel (Saaremaa) from Denmark, and were thus in control of all of present-day Estonia.
The Diocese of Tallinn is a Latin Church diocese that covers the entire country of Estonia.
Eduard Gottlieb Profittlich, SJ was a German Catholic prelate who served as Apostolic Administrator of Estonia from 1931 until his death in a Soviet prison in 1942. He took Estonian citizenship in 1935 and was made an archbishop in 1936. He was a member of the Jesuits.
Pope Francis visited the Baltic states—Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia—from 22 to 25 September 2018.
In 1996 a schism between Moscow and Constantinople occurred; this schism began on 23 February 1996, when the Russian Orthodox Church severed full communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, and ended on 16 May 1996 when the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Patriarchate reached an agreement.
Estonian Methodist Church is a Methodist church organisation in Estonia. Until 1 July 2023, when it severed its ties to the United Methodist Church, it belonged regionally to the Northern Europe and Eurasia Central Conference of the United Methodist Church and to the United Methodist Church Nordic and Baltic Episcopal Area. On the world level it is a member of the World Methodist Council.
The Tartu Credit Center Massacre was the mass execution of 19 people in the basement of the former Credit Center in Tartu, Estonia, on 14 January 1919.
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