Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Munich and Freising

Archdiocese of Munich and Freising Archidioecesis Monacensis et Frisingensis Bistum München und Freising
Frauenkirche, Munich
Location
Country	Germany
Ecclesiastical province	Munich and Freising
Metropolitan	Munich, Bavaria
Statistics
Area
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2013) 3,603,361 1,759,896 (48.8%)
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	739
Cathedral	Frauenkirche
Co-cathedral	Freising Cathedral
Patron saint	St. Corbinian
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Archbishop	Reinhard Marx Archbishop of Munich and Freising
Auxiliary Bishops	Wolfgang Bischof, Bernhard Haßlberger
Emeritus Bishops	Friedrich Wetter, Franz Dietl, Engelbert Siebler
Map
Website
erzbistum-muenchen-und-freising.de

Freising Cathedral

The Freising Cathedral's pipe organ

Palais Holnstein, the Archbishop's residence

The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising (German: Erzbistum München und Freising, Latin: Archidioecesis Monacensis et Frisingensis) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Bavaria, Germany. It is governed by the Archbishop of Munich and Freising, who administers the see from the co-cathedral in Munich, the Frauenkirche, which is never called in German Munich Cathedral. The other, much older co-cathedral is Freising Cathedral.

The see was canonically erected in about 739 by Saint Boniface as the Diocese of Freising and later became a prince-bishopric. The diocese was dissolved in 1803 following the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire, although a titular bishop ruled until April 1, 1818, when Pope Pius VII elevated the diocese to an archdiocese with its new seat in Munich, rather than Freising.

The archdiocese is divided into forty deaneries with 758 parishes. Its suffragan bishops are the Bishop of Augsburg, the Bishop of Passau, and the Bishop of Regensburg.

The most famous archbishop was Joseph Ratzinger, who was elected as Pope Benedict XVI.

Ordinaries

Main article: Bishops of Freising and Archbishops of Munich and Freising

The following is a selection of notable ordinaries of the Bishopric and Prince-Bishopric of Freising and the Archbishopric and Archdiocese of Munich and Freising

Bishops of Freising

• Saint Corbinian (723-730; founded the Benedictine abbey in Freising, although the diocese was not organized until 739 by Saint Boniface)
• Erembert (739-747; sometimes referred to as Corbinian's half brother)
• Joseph of Freising, also known as Joseph of Verona (747-764)
• Otto I (1138–1158)
• Albert I (1158–1184)
• Otto II (1184–1220)

In 1294, the Bishop's status as a prince of the Holy Roman Empire was confirmed.

Prince-bishops of Freising

• Hermann von Cilli (1412–1421)
• Nicodemus of Scala (1421–1443)
• Sixtus of Tannberg (1474–1495)
• Ruprecht of the Palatinate (1495–1498)
• Philip of the Palatinate (1499–1541)
• Heinrich Pfalzgraf von Rhein (1541–1552)
• Leo Lösch von Hilkershausen (1552–1559)
• Moritz von Sandizell (1559–1566)
• Ernst, Duke of Bavaria (1566–1612)
• Albrecht Sigmund, Duke of Bavaria (1651–1685)
• Joseph Clemens Kajetan, Duke of Bavaria (1685–1694)
• Johann Theodor, duke of Bavaria (1727–1763)
• Klemens Wenzeslaus, Duke of Saxony(1763–1768)
• Joseph Konrad Freiherr von Schroffenberg (1790–1803). After his death, the temporal authority of the bishop was mediatised and abolished by the Elector of Bavaria.
• Joseph Jakob von Heckenstaller, priest, vicar capitular (1803-; was also named first a vicar general of the metropolite in Salzburg, and soon a papal delegate as "vicar capitular apostolic", but never raised to episcopacy). The episcopal functions were exercised by auxiliary bishop, Johann Nepomuk Wolf.

Archbishops of Munich and Freising

• Lothar Anselm Freiherr von Gebsattel (appointed 1818; confirmed soon, but at first only apostolic administrator; archbishop 1821; died 1846)
• Karl August Cardinal Graf von Reisach (1846–1856)
• Franziskus Cardinal von Bettinger (1909–1917)
• Michael Cardinal von Faulhaber (1917–1952)
• Joseph Cardinal Wendel (1952–1960)
• Julius August Cardinal Döpfner (1961–1976)
• Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (1977–1982)
• Friedrich Cardinal Wetter (1982–2007)
• Reinhard Cardinal Marx (2007; cardinal 20 November 2010)

Auxiliary Bishops

• Franz Xavier Schwarzenböck

Residence

The residence of the Archbishops of Munich and Freising is the Palais Holnstein in Munich.

See also

• Bishops of Freising and Archbishops of Munich and Freising

Sources and external links

• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Munich (German)
• Catholic Hierarchy Profile of the Archdiocese of Munich
• Catholic Encyclopedia article (history of the diocese up to Archbishop von Bettinger)