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.
As of 2014[update], it pastorally served 965,000 Catholics (82.1% of 1,174,752 total) on 3,145km² 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.
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.[3]
A 2010 scandal saw Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, a confessed and hardly remorseful pederast, forced into early retirement.
St. Salvator's Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of the Saviour and St. Donat, is the Roman Catholic cathedral of Bruges, Belgium. The cathedral is dedicated to the Verrezen Zaligmaker and Saint-Donatius of Reims.
The Catholic Church in Belgium, part of the global Catholic Church in Belgium, is under the spiritual leadership of the Pope, the curia in Rome and the Episcopal Conference of Bishops.
Humbertus Guilielmus de Precipiano was Archbishop of Mechelen.
The Diocese of Namur is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Belgium. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels. The diocese is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province in the metropolitan Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels. Its cathedra is found within St. Aubin's Cathedral in the episcopal see of Namur.
The Diocese of Tournai is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Belgium. The diocese was formed in 1146, upon the dissolution of the Diocese of Noyon and Tournai, which had existed since the 7th century. It is now suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Mechelen–Brussels. The cathedra is found within the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Tournai, which has been classified both as a major site for Wallonia's heritage since 1936 and as a World Heritage Site since 2000.
The Diocese of Ghent 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. The patron of the diocese is Saint Bavo of Ghent.
The Diocese of Antwerp is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Belgium. The diocese was restored in 1961. It is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels. Its cathedra is found within the Cathedral of Our Lady.
Jozef De Kesel is a Belgian prelate of the Catholic Church who was Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels from 2015 to 2023, where he had been auxiliary bishop from 2002 to 2010. He served as Bishop of Bruges from 2010 to 2015 and has been a cardinal since 2016.
The Belgian Bishops' Conference or the Episcopal Conference of Belgium is the permanent organ of the Roman Catholic bishops in Belgium. It is a member of the Council of European Bishops' Conferences. It includes the bishops, auxiliary bishops and retired bishops of the ecclesiastical province of Belgium.
The diocese of Eupen-Malmedy is a former Belgian Latin Roman Catholic diocese, which existed between 1919 and 1925, and included the East Cantons.
The Archdiocese of Mechelen–Brussels is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Belgium. It is the primatial see of Belgium and the centre of the ecclesiastical province governed by the Archbishop of Mechelen–Brussels, which covers the whole of Belgium. It was formed in 1559 and the bishop has a seat in two cathedrals, St. Rumbold's Cathedral in Mechelen and the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels. The current archbishop is Luc Terlinden, who was installed in September 2023.
The following is a timeline of the history of the municipality of Bruges, Belgium.
Lode Aerts, identified also as Lodewijk Aerts, is a Belgian prelate of the Catholic Church who has been Bishop of Bruges since December 2016.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg was a short-lived (1559-1603) Latin Catholic suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the Archbishop of Utrecht, with episcopal see at Middelburg, on Walcheren (former) island in the Dutch Zeeland province.
Events in the year 1834 in Belgium.
Jan Frans van de Velde (1779–1838) was the 20th bishop of Ghent, in Belgium, from November 1829 until his death.
Louis-Joseph Delebecque (1796–1864) was the 21st bishop of Ghent, in Belgium, from November 1838 until his death.
The Provostry of St. Donatian is a Baroque building on the Burg Square in Bruges, Belgium. Built in the 17th century, it served as the headquarters of the ecclesiastical seigniory of St. Donatian.
Franciscus Renatus Boussen or Frans Boussen(1774–1848) was the 18th bishop of Bruges, and the first after the re-establishment of the diocese in 1834.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
