Roman Catholic Diocese of Nicopolis

Diocese of Nicopolis

Dioecesis Nicopolitanus

Епархия Никопол
Catholic
The Cathedral of St Paul of the Cross in Ruse, Bulgaria
Location
CountryBulgaria
MetropolitanImmediately Subject to the Holy See
Statistics
Area43,241 km2 (16,695 sq mi)
Population
- Total
- Catholics		(as of 2021)
2,500,000[a]
25,000[a] (1%)
Parishes21[a]
Information
DenominationCatholic Church
Sui iuris churchLatin Church
RiteLatin Rite
Established
  • 1648; 377 years ago (1648) (suffragan to Sofia)[2]
  • 1789; 236 years ago (1789) (subject to the Holy See)
CathedralSt Paul of the Cross Cathedral, Rousse
Secular priests4 plus 9 religious priests[a]
LanguageBulgarian
CalendarGeneral Roman
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
BishopStrahil Kavalenov
Website
diocesi-nicopoli.bg
The Diocese of Nicopolis building in Rousse

The Diocese of Nicopolis[b] (Latin: Dioecesis Nicopolitanus) is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church, which includes the whole northern part of Bulgaria. The seat of the episcopal see is in Rousse, although the diocese is named after Nicopolis ad Istrum. The diocese is immediately subject of the Holy See.

The current bishop is Strahil Kavalenov.[1]

History

Originally erected in 1789, the diocese has not experienced any name changes, nor jurisdictional alterations.

List of ordinaries of the diocese of Nicopoli[1][2][3]
Name Appointed Term End Term end reason
Philippus Stanislaus 1648 1663
Francesco Sojmirović [sr] 1663 1673 Died
Philippus Stanislaus 1673 1674 Died[c]
Anton Stefanov (Stephani), O.F.M. Obs. 1677 1692 Died
Marko Andrijašević (Andreassi) 1717 1723 Appointed archbishop of Sardica (Sredek, Sofia)
Balthasar Lieschi 1724 unknown
Nicola Stanislavich, O.F.M. Obs. 1725 1740 Confirmed bishop of Csanád
Antun Becić 1743 1752 Resigned
Nicola Pugliesi 1752 1767 Appointed archbishop of Dubrovnik (Ragusa)
Sebastiano Canepa 1767 1769 Died
Giacomo Antonio Riccardini, O.F.M. Conv. 1771 1775 Resigned
Paul Dovanlia 1776 1804 Died
Francesco Maria Ferreri, C.P. 1805 1814 Died
Fortunato Maria Ercolani, C.P. 1815 1822 Appointed bishop of Civita Castellana, Orte e Gallese
Giuseppe-Maria Molajoni 1825 1847 Resigned
Angelo Parsi 1847 1863 Died
Antonius Jozef Pluym C.P. 1863 1870 Resigned
Ignazio Paoli, C.P. 1870 1883 Appointed archbishop (personal title) of Bucuresti
Ippolito Agosto, C.P. 1883 1893 Died
Henri Doulcet, C.P. 1895 1913 Resigned
Leonardo Baumbach, C.P. 1913 1915 Died
Damiaan Johannes Theelen, C.P. 1915 1946 Died
Blessed Eugene Bossilkov, C.P. 1947 1952 Died
Vasco Séirécov 1975 1977 Died
Samuel Dzhundrin, A.A. 1978[d] 1994 Retired
Petko Christov, O.F.M. Conv. 1994 2020 Died
Strahil Kavalenov 2021 present

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d Annuario Pontificio (2022) via Catholic-Hierarchy.org[1]
  2. ^ Alternate spellings include Nicopoli and Nikopol
  3. ^ Year of death uncertain
  4. ^ Dzhundrin was appointed bishop in 1978, but not ordained and installed until 1979

References

  1. ^ a b c "Diocese of Nicopoli". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. 17 March 2023. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Diocese of Nikopol, Bulgaria". GCatholic.org. Gabriel Chow. 4 March 2024. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  3. ^ СПИСЪК НА ЕПИСКОПИТЕ В КНЕ [List of Bishops of the Ecne]. Diocese of Nicopoli (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 15 March 2024.