Archdiocese of Athens

Archidioecesis Atheniensis

Ιερά Αρχιεπισκοπή Καθολικών Αθηνών
Cathedral Basilica of St. Dionysius the Areopagite, Athens
Location
CountryGreece
MetropolitanImmediately exempt to the Holy See
Statistics
Area46,775 km2 (18,060 sq mi)
Population
- Catholics		(as of 2015)
100,000 (Steady1.6%)
Information
DenominationCatholic Church
Sui iuris churchLatin Church
RiteRoman Rite
Established23 July 1875
CathedralΚαθεδρικός Ναός Αγ. Διονυσίου Αρεοπαγίτου των Καθολικών
(Cathedral Basilica of St. Dionysius the Areopagite)
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
ArchbishopTheodoros Kontidis, S.J.[1]
Map

The Archdiocese of Athens (Latin: Archidioecesis Atheniensis or Athenarum) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Greece. Its cathedra is found within the neoclassic Cathedral Basilica of St. Dionysius the Areopagite, in the episcopal see of Athens.

History

The See of Athens is one of the oldest Christian bishoprics, dating back to Hierotheos the Thesmothete in the mid-1st century AD. In ca. 800, it was raised to a metropolitan see.

In 1205, the city was captured by the Crusaders, who had conquered Constantinople and dissolved the Byzantine Empire the year before. The city's incumbent Greek Orthodox bishop, Michael Choniates, retired to the island of Kea, and a Latin Catholic archbishop was installed in his place, with the French cleric Berard being elected to the post in 1206.[2][3]

The Crusaders largely maintained the ecclesiastical order they found, appointing Catholic bishops to replace the Orthodox prelates.[4] Thus, in a letter by Pope Innocent III to Berard in 1209, 11 suffragan sees are mentioned under Athens, identical to those under Byzantine rule, although most of them were de facto vacant: Negroponte (Egripontis), Thermopylae (Cermopilensis, seat in Bodonitsa), Davleia (Davaliensem), Aulon (Abelonensem), Oreoi (Zorconensis), Karystos (Caristiensem), Koroneia (Coroniacensem), Andros (Andrensem), Megara (Megarensem), Skyros (Squirensem), and Kea (Cheensem).[3][5] In the Provinciale Romanum, a list of the sees subordinate to the See of Rome, dating to some time before 1228, the number of suffragans is reduced to eight: Thermopylae, Daulia, Salona, Negroponte, Aulon, Oreoi, Megara, and Skyros.[3][6]

The Catholic see remained vacant for a period after the Catalan Company conquered the Duchy of Athens in 1311 due to the Catalans' conflict with the papacy, and a residential archbishop is not attested until around the mid-14th century.[7] Beginning with Dorotheus I ca. 1388, the Orthodox bishops of Athens, who had been continued to be appointed as titular holders since the Latin conquest, were allowed to resume residence in the city, but the Latin Archbishop retained his pre-eminent position until the conquest of the Duchy of Athens by the Ottoman Empire in 1456. The last Latin Archbishop, Nicholas Protimo, fled to Venetian-held Euboea, where he died in 1482. The Catholic see was held by titular archbishops thereafter.

On 23 July 1875, the see was restored as the modern Catholic Archdiocese of Athens, ministering to the Catholic inhabitants of the Greek capital and most of mainland Greece.

List of Archbishops of Athens

Medieval metropolitan archbishops

NameAppointedTerm endedNotes
Berardsummer 12061223?Frenchman, replacing the exiled Orthodox archbishop Michael Choniates.[8]
Corrado di Sumo15 February 1253 ?
Uldrico20 May 1273 ?
Stefano Mangiatero, O.P.1300? ?
Henryca. 1305[9]
Nicholas Salamon1328–1351Appointed in 1328 until his death in early 1351.[9]
John8 June 1351 – 1357 ?Formerly archdeacon of Candia, died in office.[10]
Nicholas de Raynaldo9 June 1357 ?Venetian sub-deacon, dean of Negroponte, elected by the local canons and (re)confirmed by the Pope.[11]
Francis, O.F.M.20 August 1365 ?Elected by the local canons and (re)confirmed by the Pope.[11]
John ?Unknown, except as a name.[11]
Antonio Ballester, O.F.M.27 March 13701387Catalan, and a prominent figure of Latin Greece. Loyal to the Roman papacy during the Western Schism, vicar of the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople.[12]
Antonio Blasi [Dexart]?, O.Merc.14 May 138821 February 1403Catalan, appointed at the request of John I of Aragon by the Avignon papacy, although Athens had been captured by the Florentine adventurer Nerio Acciaioli. Consequently, Blasi never visited Athens, until his transfer to Cagliari in 1403.[13]
Gerard Boem, O.F.M.1388Appointed by the Roman papacy, represented by Bishop James of Argos as vicar in 1389-90 at least.[13]
Lodovico Aliotti12 June 13921 June 1398Afterwards appointed Bishop of Volterra. Died 6 April 1411.
Franceschino, O.Cist. ?9 May 1400Died.
Andrea de Lucha, O.Carm.6 September 140 ?
John Antony of Corinth2 August 1426 ?
Francesco5 November 1427 ?
Filippo Aulini18 May 1429 ?
Nicholas Protimo6 July 14461482Last archbishop under Latin rule. Fled to Negroponte after the Ottoman conquest in 1456.
Source(s):[14][15][16]

Titular archbishops

NameAppointedTerm endedNotes
Giovanni Nicolini26 April 1482 ?Previously Archbishop of Amalfi.
Alexander Gordon4 September 155111 November 1575Died
Attilio Amalteo14 August 160625 May 1633Died
Gaspare Mattei5 September 163914 December 1643Afterwards appointed Cardinal-Priest of San Pancrazio
Nicolò Guidi di Bagno14 March 16449 April 1657Afterwards appointed Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Eusebio
Giacomo Altoviti29 July 165818 April 1667Afterwards appointed Titular Patriarch of Antioch
Carlo de' Vecchi27 April 166713 March 1673Died
Francesco Boccapaduli15 July 167523 November 1680Died
Marcello d'Aste10 December 16913 February 1700Afterwards appointed Archbishop of Ancona e Numana (personal title)
Filippo Antonio Gualtieri30 March 170021 November 1701Afterwards appointed Archbishop of Imola (personal title)
Giuseppe Vallemani5 December 170128 November 1707Afterwards appointed Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria degli Angeli
Pier Marcellino Corradini7 November 170721 November 1712Afterwards appointed Cardinal-Priest of San Giovanni a Porta Latina
Silvius de Cavalieri5 October 171211 January 1717Died
Bartolomeo Massei3 February 17218 January 1731Afterwards appointed Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Agostino
Nicola Saverio Albini8 January 173111 April 1740Died
Ludovico Merlini27 October 174021 July 1760Afterwards appointed Cardinal-Priest of Santa Prisca
Giovanni Carlo Boschi22 September 176021 July 1766Afterwards appointed Cardinal-Priest of Santi Giovanni e Paolo
Ignazio Reali26 September 17668 December 1767Died
Giuseppe Maria Contesini25 January 176828 February 1785Died
Giulio Cesare Zoglio27 June 178513 April 1795Died
Camillo Campanelli27 June 179623 September 1805Afterwards appointed Archbishop of Perugia (personal title)
Giovanni Francesco Guerrieri16 March 180827 September 1819Afterwards appointed Archbishop of Rimini (personal title)
Giovanni Francesco Falzacappa27 September 181910 March 1823Afterwards appointed Archbishop of Ancona e Numana (personal title)
Filippo Filonardi16 May 18233 July 1826Afterwards appointed Archbishop of Ferrara
Francesco Tiberi Contigliano2 October 18262 July 1832Afterwards appointed Archbishop of Jesi (personal title)
Ludovico Tevoli17 December 183217 October 1856Died
Mariano Falcinelli Antoniacci, O.S.B.21 December 18574 May 1874Afterwards appointed Cardinal-Priest of San Marcello
Source(s):[14][16][17][18][19][20][21]

Modern metropolitan archbishops

IncumbentAppointedTerm endedNotes
Ioannis Marangos23 July 187517 December 1891Died
Giuseppe Zaffino29 April 18927 February 1895Died
Caietanus Maria de Angelis, O.F.M. Conv.10 May 189528 March 1900Died
Antonio Delenda29 April 190010 September 1911Died
Louis Petit, A.A.4 March 191224 June 1926Resigned
Giovanni Battista Filippucci25 January 192729 May 1947Afterwards appointed Archbishop of Naxos, Andros, Tinos and Mykonos
Markos Sigalas22 February 194710 March 1950Died
Marios Makrionitis, S.J.11 March 19538 April 1959Died
Venediktos Printesis15 May 195917 November 1972Resigned
Nikolaos Foskolos25 June 197312 August 2014Retired
Sevastianos Rossolatos12 August 201414 July 2021Retired
Theodoros Kontidis, S.J.14 July 2021present
Source(s):[14][22]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "Rinunce e nomine".
  2. ↑ Setton 1976, pp. 22–23, 407.
  3. 1 2 3 Koder & Hild 1976, p. 84.
  4. ↑ Setton 1976, p. 406.
  5. ↑ Setton 1976, p. 408.
  6. ↑ Setton 1976, p. 409.
  7. ↑ Koder & Hild 1976, p. 86.
  8. ↑ Setton 1976, p. 462.
  9. 1 2 Setton 1976, p. 461 (note 128).
  10. ↑ Setton 1976, pp. 461 (note 128), 463.
  11. 1 2 3 Setton 1976, p. 463.
  12. ↑ Setton 1976, pp. 463–464 (esp. note 139).
  13. 1 2 Setton 1976, p. 464 (note 140).
  14. 1 2 3 "Archdiocese of Athens". gcatholic.org. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  15. ↑ Eubel 1913, Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi, volume 1, pp. 114–115.
  16. 1 2 Eubel 1914, Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi, volume 2, p. 98.
  17. ↑ "Athenae (Titular See)". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  18. ↑ Eubel 1923, Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi, volume 3, p. 122.
  19. ↑ Eubel 1935, Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi, volume 4, p. 99.
  20. ↑ Eubel 1952, Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi, volume 5, p. 103.
  21. ↑ Eubel 1958, Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi, volume 6, pp. 104–105.
  22. ↑ "Archdiocese of Athēnai {Athens}". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 22 March 2015.

References

37°58′45″N 23°44′05″E / 37.9791°N 23.7347°E / 37.9791; 23.7347

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