Archdiocese of Paderborn
The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Paderborn is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Germany; its seat is Paderborn. It was a diocese from its foundation in 799 until 1802, and again from 1821 until 1930. In 1930, it was promoted to an archdiocese. From 1281 until 1802, the Bishopric of Paderborn was also a state of the Holy Roman Empire.
History
The diocese of Paderborn was founded in 799 by Pope Leo III. In the early years it was subordinated to the bishop of Würzburg. Since 855 the clergy had the right to elect the bishop. The diocese included the larger part of Lippe, Waldeck, and nearly half of the County of Ravensberg.History of the bishopric
Restoration and later history
While the bishopric as a state had been permanently dissolved in 1802, the Diocese of Paderborn, originally suffragan to Mainz Archdiocese, was recreated by Pope Pius VII as a suffragan to Cologne Archdiocese in 1821. Through the Prussian Concordate, it was promoted to an archdiocese in 1930, heading the new Middle German Ecclesiastical Province; at the same time, Paderborn lost its districts around Erfurt and Heiligenstadt to the Diocese of Fulda, and two small areas to the Archdiocese of Cologne. The dioceses of Hildesheim and Fulda were made its suffragans.When the Diocese of Essen was created in 1958, Paderborn lost a significant portion of its district to it.
In the 1980s the Campingkirche was founded.
In 1994 Paderborn lost the part of its district located in the former East Germany to its newly created suffragan Diocese of Magdeburg. Also the new Diocese of Erfurt was made subordinate to Paderborn. At the same time, Hildesheim was made subordinate to the Archdiocese of Hamburg.
In the 1990s, the conflict between the Archdiocese and renegade priest Eugen Drewermann made headlines.
The current archbishop is Hans-Josef Becker.
In April 2008 pope Benedict XVI. announced Hubert Berenbrinker as a new auxiliary bishop.
Ordinaries
Bishops to 1321
Prince-Bishops (1321 to 1802)
Archbishops
- Franz Egon Freiherr von Fürstenberg †
Bishops
- Franz Egon Freiherr von Fürstenberg †
- Friedrich Klemens Freiherr von Ledebur †
- Richard Kornelius Dammers †
- Johann Franz Drepper †
- Konrad Martin †
- Franz Kaspar Drobe †
- Hubert Theophil Simar †
- Wilhelm Schneider †
- Karl Joseph Schulte †
- Caspar Klein †
Archbishops
- Caspar Klein
- Lorenz Jaeger
- Johannes Joachim Degenhardt
- Hans-Josef Becker
Auxiliary bishops
Diocese (to 1802)
- Johannes Fabri, O.F.M.
- Johannes Schulte, O.S.A.
- Heinrich Vuyst, O.F.M.
- Johannes Ymminck, O.S.A.
- Johann Welmecher, O.F.M.
- Albert Engel, O.F.M.
- Johannes Schneider, O.F.M.
- Nikolaus Arresdorf, O.F.M. Conv.
- Johannes Pelking, O.F.M. Conv.
- Bernhard Frick
- Pantaleon Bruns, O.S.B.
- Winimar Knippschild, O.S.B.
- Meinwerk Kaup, O.S.B.
- Johann Christoph von Crass
- Franz Josef von Gondola, O.S.B.
Diocese (1821–1830)
- Richard Kornelius Dammers Appointed, Bishop of Paderborn
Archdiocese (1830–present)
- Anton Ferdinand Holtgreven
- Joseph Freusberg
- Augustinus Göckel
- Heinrich Hähling von Lanzenauer
- Johannes Hillebrand
- Augustinus Philipp Baumann
- Wilhelm Weskamm
- Friedrich Maria Heinrich Rintelen
- Franz Hengsbach
- Wilhelm Tuschen
- Paul Heinrich Nordhues
- Johannes Joachim Degenhardt Appointed, Archbishop of Paderborn
- Hans-Georg Braun
- Paul Josef Cordes
- Paul-Werner Scheele
- Hubert Berenbrinker
- Hans Leo Drewes
- Paul Consbruch
- Franz-Josef Hermann Bode
- Heinz Josef Algermissen
- Reinhard Marx
- Hans-Josef Becker Appointed, Archbishop of Paderborn
- Karl-Heinz Wiesemann
- Manfred Grothe
- Matthias König
- Hubert Berenbrinker
- Dominicus Meier, O.S.B.
Structure