Roman Catholic Diocese of Aachen

Diocese of Aachen Dioecesis Aquisgranensis Bistum Aachen
File:Aachener Dom HDR.jpg Aachen Cathedral
Location
Country	Germany
Metropolitan	Archdiocese of Cologne
Coordinates
Statistics
Area
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2012) 2,028,699 1,110,948 (54.8%)
Parishes	538
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Roman Rite
Cathedral	Aachen Cathedral
Patron saint	Mary, Mother of Jesus
Secular priests	535
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Metropolitan Archbishop	Rainer Maria Woelki
Auxiliary Bishops	Johannes Bündgens, Karl Borsch
Vicar General	Manfred von Holtum
Emeritus Bishops	Gerd Dicke Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus (1970-2003) Karl Reger Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus (1987-2006) Heinrich Mussinghoff Bishop emeritus
Map
Location of the Diocese of Aachen Location of the Diocese of Aachen

The Diocese of Aachen is one of 27 dioceses in Germany. It is also one of seven dioceses that has a majority Catholic population, 57.6%. The weekly Mass attendance rate in the diocese is 11.5%.

Geography

The diocese is in the west of Germany, extending from the town Krefeld in the north till mountainous area of the Eifel to the south. Neighboring dioceses are Cologne, Münster, Essen and Trier in Germany, Liège in Belgium and Roermond of the Netherlands.

The diocese is subdivided into seven regions, which are in turn further subdivided into 538 parishes.

1. Region Aachen-Stadt (Aachen city)
2. Region Düren
3. Region Eifel
4. Region Heinsberg
5. Region Kempen Viersen
6. Region Krefeld
7. Region Mönchengladbach

Ordinaries

The bishop emeritus of Aachen is Heinrich Mussinghoff. There are two auxiliary bishops, Johannes Bündgens and Karl Borsch. There are two emeritus auxiliary bishops, Gerd Dicke and Karl Reger.

The vicar general is Manfred von Holtum, who was appointed to the post on October 1, 1997.

List of diocesan bishops

Tenure	Incumbent	Notes
9 May 1802 to 13 August 1809	Marc Antoine Berdolet	Installed 25 July 1802; died in office
1825	Diocese abolished
1931	Diocese re-established
30 January 1931 to 5 October 1937	Joseph Vogt	Ordained 19 March 1931; installed 25 March 1931; died in office
7 September 1943 to 19 May 1954	Johannes Joseph van der Velden	Priest of Köln Cologne; ordained 10 October 1943; died in office
30 August 1954 to 13 December 1974	Johannes Pohlschneider	Priest of Münster; ordained 18 November 1954; retired
9 September 1975 to 23 January 1994	Klaus Hemmerle	Priest of Freiburg im Breisgau; Ordained 8 November 1975; died in office
12 December 1994 to 8 December 2015	Heinrich Mussinghoff	Priest of Münster; Ordained 11 February 1995

List of auxiliary bishops

Tenure	Incumbent	Notes
1931 to 1943	Hermann Joseph Sträter	Ordained 16 October 1931, became Apostolic Administrator 15 May 1938, died 16 March 1943
1938 to 1969	Friedrich Hünermann	Ordained 3 December 1938, died 15 February 1969
1961 to 1979	Joseph Ludwig Buchkremer	Ordained 21 December 1961, retired 4 October 1979
1970 to 2003	Ernst Franz Gerd Werner Dicke	Ordained 11 April 1970, retired 21 November 2003
1978 to 1980	Maximilian Goffart	Ordained 18 February 1978, died 17 July 1980
1981 to 1986	Augustus Peters	Ordained 6 April 1981, died 3 May 1986
1987 to 2006	Karl Reger	Ordained 7 February 1987, retired 15 March 2006
2003 to present	Karl Borsch	Ordained 17 January 2004
2006 to present	Johannes Bündgens	Ordained 20 May 2006

History

Coat of arms of the diocese

Historically the city of Aachen belonged to the Diocese of Liège, divided by the Archdiocese of Cologne by the Wurm River.

The diocese was first created in 1802, covering the area west of the Rhine formerly belonging to Cologne, as well as parts from the dioceses Liege, Utrecht, Roermond and Mainz. After the first bishop Marc Antoine Berdolet died in 1809, Pope Pius VII didn't approve the successor suggested by Napoleon, Jean Dénis Francois Le Camus. After the end of the French rulership over the area the diocese was abolished by the bull "De salute animarum" of July 16, 1821, and included into the archdiocese of Cologne.

On August 13, 1930 by the papal bull "Pastorale officii nostri" the diocese was reerected. Joseph Vogt was appointed as its first bishop.

Major Churches

The cathedral of the diocese is the Aachen Cathedral, which was built in 800 by Charlemagne. It also was the first German world heritage site, inscribed in 1980.

The diocese has two churches that have been given the status of basilica minor.

• Basilica SS. Potentinus, Felicius und Simplicius, Kall-Steinfeld, October 7, 1960
• Münster-Basilica St. Vitus, Mönchengladbach, April 25, 1973

See also

• List of Roman Catholic dioceses in Germany

External links

• Website of the Diocese
• Catholic Hierarchy
• GCatholic.org
• Website of the diocese