Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Freiburg

Archdiocese of Freiburg im Breisgau Archidioecesis Friburgensis Erzbistum Freiburg
Freiburg Minster
Location
Country	Germany
Ecclesiastical province	Freiburg
Metropolitan	Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg
Statistics
Area
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2013) 4,735,970 1,953,041 (41.2%)
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	16 August 1821
Cathedral	Freiburg Minster
Patron saint	Virgin Mary St. Conrad of Constance St. Gebhard of Constance
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Metropolitan Archbishop	Stephan Burger
Auxiliary Bishops	Rainer Klug, Bernd Joachim Uhl, Michael Gerber
Emeritus Bishops	Robert Zollitsch, Wolfgang Kirchgässner, Paul Friedrich Wehrle
Map
Website
erzbistum-freiburg.de

The Archdiocese of Freiburg im Breisgau (Latin Archidioecesis Friburgensis) is a Roman Catholic diocese in Baden-Württemberg comprising the former states of Baden and Hohenzollern. The Archdiocese of Freiburg is led by an archbishop, who also serves as the metropolitan bishop of the Upper-Rhine ecclesiastical province for the suffragan dioceses of Mainz and Rottenburg-Stuttgart. Its seat is Freiburg im Breisgau.

The 14th Archbishop of Freiburg, Robert Zollitsch, followed his predecessor Oskar Saier, who served from 1978 to 2002. On May 30, 2014 Stephan Burger was appointed as the new Archbishop of Freiburg. He was ordained as bishop on June 29, 2014.

History

In 1821 the Archdiocese of Freiburg was founded out of the Diocese of Constance as well as parts of the Mainz, Straßburg, Worms and Würzburg dioceses. Freiburg pastor Bernhard Boll became the first bishop in 1827. Well known successors were Conrad Gröber and Hermann Schäufele

Today, church closures are not seen in the archdiocese of Freiburg. The same goes for the consolidation of parishes. The Archdiocese of Freiburg exercises the concept of “unions of pastoral guidance”.

On November 1, 2005 the archbishop Dr. Robert Zollitsch enacted “Pastoral Guidelines” for the first time in the history of the Archdiocese. These guidelines are given the title “Shaping the awakening”.

Patron saints

• Virgin Mary
• Conrad of Constance (Bishop of Constance)
• Gebhard of Constance (Bishop of Constance)

Diocese organization

The Archdiocese is organized into seven regions, and these regions are in turn organized into numerous deaneries.

• Region of Odenwald / Tauber
  • Deanship of Tauberbischofsheim
  • Deanship of Lauda
  • Deanship of Buchen
  • Deanship of Mosbach
• Region of Rhine / Neckar
  • Deanship of Weinheim
  • Deanship of Mannheim
  • Deanship of Heidelberg
  • Deanship of Wiesloch
  • Deanship of Kraichgau
• Region of Middle Oberrhein / Pforzheim
  • Deanship of Philippsburg
  • Deanship of Bruchsal
  • Deanship of Bretten
  • Deanship of Karlsruhe
  • Deanship of Pforzheim
  • Deanship of Ettlingen
  • Deanship of Murgtal
  • Deanship of Baden-Baden
• Region of Ortenau
  • Deanship of Offenburg
  • Deanship of Acher-Renchtal
  • Deanship of Lahr
  • Deanship of Kinzigtal
• Region of Breisgau / Schwarzwald / Baar
  • Deanship of Breisach / Endingen
  • Deanship of Waldkirch
  • Deanship of Freiburg
  • Deanship of Neuenburg
  • Deanship of Neustadt
  • Deanship of Villingen
  • Deanship of Donaueschingen
• Region of Hochrhein
  • Deanship of Wiesental
  • Deanship of Waldshut
  • Deanship of Säckingen
  • Deanship of Wutachtal
• Region of Lake Constance / Hohenzollern
  • Deanship of Western Hegau
  • Deanship of Eastern Hegau
  • Deanship of Konstanz
  • Deanship of Linzgau
  • Deanship of Meßkirch
  • Deanship of Sigmaringen
  • Deanship of Zollern

The northernmost archdiocese jurisdiction is the parish of St. Laurentius in Freudenberg.

Church institutions

Entrance to the ordinariate of the archbishop, Freiburg Breisgau.

Schools

Through its scholarly foundation the Archdiocese of Freiburg administers 17 comprehensive secondary schools (Gymnasien), 6 secondary schools (Realschulen), one primary school, one technical school for elderly care, one vocational college, and two boarding schools.

Seminaries

The Archdiocese maintains a priest seminary in Freiburg, the Collegium Borromaeum (CB), where candidates for priesthood live during their theological studies at Freiburg's Albert-Ludwigs University. The CB lies in proximity to the Freiburger Cathedral and the ordinariate of the archbishop. Archbishop Robert Zollitsch was, among other things, a repetitor (tutor) at the CB for several years. Pastoral training takes place in a seminary in St. Peter, where Robert Zollitsch likewise functioned as a lecturer.

External links

• (German) Official site
• At catholic-hierarchy.org
• Freiburg - Catholic Encyclopedia article