AUGSBURG, DIocese of. — The diocese of Augsburg, the most important center in Bavaria after Munich, comprises the southwestern part of this region, with a population of 1,200,000, of whom 997,161 are Catholics. It has 992 parishes, 1,401 diocesan priests, and 253 religious.
I. HISTORY
In 15 B.C., the Romans founded the military colony of A. Vindelicorum. A city grew up around it, becoming the capital of the Roman province of Raetia Secunda. By the end of the 4th century, a Christian community certainly existed there, probably with a bishop. Some names of Augsburg bishops from the 7th century are known, but the series is complete beginning in the 9th century. The see of Augsburg originally depended on Aquileia, then on Mainz. The bishop, like almost all bishops and abbots in Germany, became an imperial feudal prince, with his own territory, sovereign rights, and temporal governance.In 955, Otto the Great liberated the city from the siege of the Magyars, of which St. Ulrich was then bishop, and defeated them definitively; from then on, the Magyars ceased to invade Central and Southern Europe. The city then grew rapidly as a result of trade, especially with Venice. After two conflicts with its bishops, in 1276 it obtained the status of a Free Imperial City (Freie Reichsstadt). During the 15th and 16th centuries, it reached the height of its splendor and wealth. The Fugger family became renowned, among the most powerful bankers of their time, with ties to popes and emperors who were their debtors. Meanwhile, the bishops had chosen Dillingen as their residence.
Augsburg lost much of its importance during the horrors of the Thirty Years' War. The city initially adhered to the Reformation, and it was here that the famous Augsburg Confession (v. CONFESSIONS OF FAITH) was presented to the imperial diet in 1530. Here, too, Charles V issued the so-called Interim (v. below) in 1548, and here the Augsburg Settlement was concluded in 1555, granting full state recognition to German Protestantism. The temporal domains of the bishops were ceded to Bavaria in 1803, and the city itself in 1805.
In 1820, Bavaria, in agreement with the Holy See, proceeded to a complete reorganization of its ecclesiastical circumscriptions, and the present diocese of Augsburg was then established, partly from new territories, while ceding others to neighboring dioceses.
It should also be noted that the ancient diocese, which besides the territories of the bishop’s temporal dominion also included lands of many other small states, counted more than a thousand parishes in the Middle Ages. However, during the Reformation, many of these rulers changed religion, and, according to the principle *cuius regio, illius et religio*, their subjects were also compelled to change faith. The territories under the direct rule of the bishops naturally remained steadfast in the ancestral faith. In 1559, the renowned Academy was founded in Dillingen, directed by Jesuits, a center of Catholic faith. Until the Tridentine era, several particular rites survived in the diocese, but from 1597 onward the Roman Rite prevailed, with certain Augsburg usages preserved to this day.
The glory of Augsburg is St. Ulrich, bishop from 973, the first saint to be formally canonized (993). In the Middle Ages, Count Hartmann of Dillingen (1248–86), the *Mehrer des Stiftes* (i.e., the one who expanded and consolidated the sovereign territory), deserves mention, as does, at the time of the Reformation, Cardinal Otto Truchseß von Waldburg (1543–73), through whom Catholicism regained ascendancy in the city.
II. ART AND CULTURE —
I. Abbeys and monasteries
Of the monasteries and convents in the diocese of Augsburg, many of which are very ancient, several date back beyond the year 1000, such as the Domstift (i.e., the cathedral chapter); then, in the same city, St. Ulrich and St. Stephen. The Benedictine monasteries of Wesobrunn, Kaufbeuren, Ottobeuren, Benediktbeuren, and Füssen are celebrated, to say nothing of many others. The Hirsau Reform had great success here. The Dominicans and Franciscans also founded convents in the city. The Franciscan Third Order flourished, which in medieval Germany held enormous importance as a universal brotherhood; the female branch especially soon counted a vast number of sisters in its *Regelhäuser*. Notable among these are those of Augsburg, Dillingen, and Kaufbeuren.At the time of the Reformation, the Jesuits and Capuchins played a preeminent role in the assiduous and fruitful work of Catholic reform in these regions. Today, all the major Orders are represented in the diocese; particularly noteworthy is the revival of the Benedictines, who throughout Bavaria have been able to reclaim and reopen a good number of ancient abbeys. The number of female congregations is impressive.
2. Institutes of culture, libraries, archives
From the time of St. Peter Canisius, who for seven years was a preacher in the Augsburg cathedral, there existed in the city a renowned Jesuit college, due to the generosity of the Fuggers. Even more famous was the Academy of Dillingen, founded by Cardinal Truchsess and entrusted to the same Jesuits, later elevated (1606) to the status of a university. The modern Philosophical-Theological Academy is also noteworthy.3. Monuments
The cathedral, dedicated to St. Mary, with five naves, of pre-Romanesque origin (8th century), with Romanesque parts, Gothic transformations, and enlargements, was restored and reduced to its present state according to the neo-Gothic taste of the second half of the last century. Notable are the church of St. Ulrich; the ancient cemetery church of St. Afra, now in grand late-Gothic forms; St. Anna, from 1321, with the Fugger tombs in Renaissance style. Famous is the town hall by Elias Holl (1615–20), and the Fuggerei, the first example of a colony of family houses (1519).III. Councils of Augsburg
An important council was held in Augsburg on August 7, 952, in the presence of prominent ecclesiastical figures, presided over by Frederick, Archbishop of Mainz. The initiative came from King Otto, who with his retinue attended the closing of the sessions and promised to enforce the decrees promulgated by the Fathers. The first of the canons issued prohibited clerics in major orders from contracting marriage, under penalty of deposition. Renewing an old prohibition, the fourth canon forbade them from keeping a woman “subintroducetam” in their homes. The fifth forbade monks from leaving their monastery without the abbot’s permission. In general, monasteries remained under the jurisdiction of the diocesan bishop, who was to allow his clergy full freedom to embrace the monastic life. Equal freedom was granted to women consecrated to God.On October 27, 1062, Anno, Bishop of Cologne, convened another synod in Augsburg. A decision had to be made between Pope Alexander II and the antipope Cadalo. St. Peter Damian declared it necessary to defend the cause of Alexander II and read the pamphlet titled *Disceptatio synodalis inter regis advocatum et romanae Ecclesiae defensorem*, a dialogue between a representative of the Roman Church (in this case, St. Peter Damian) and an advocate of the rights of the German crown. According to the holy Doctor, Cadalo would have been condemned and deposed by all the German and Italian bishops gathered around the young King Henry IV.
On 12 Nov. 1548, during the pontificate of Paul III, the bishop of A., Cardinal Otto of Truchsess, convened a three-day synod in which 33 canons were promulgated, most of them treating of pastoral duties.
Finally, mention must be made of the diocesan synod of 1567, whose statutes insist upon profession of the faith as taught by the Roman Church and deal in particular with divine worship and the Sacraments.
Romaudo Souarn
IV. Interim of Augsburg
By this term is designated the pacification agreement concluded between Catholics and Protestants, under the aegis of the Emperor Charles V, in 1548. It was said to remain in force only until the close of the general council already begun at Trent in 1545.After his victory at Mühlberg (1547) over the Protestant League of Schmalkalden, Charles V, desirous of restoring religious peace to his peoples, divided as they were by the new doctrines which had daily spread and split Germany into two bitterly hostile camps, summoned Julius Pflug, bishop of Naumburg, Michael Helding, coadjutor bishop of Mainz, and the celebrated Carmelite Eberhard Billick, representing the Catholic side, and John Agricola, court preacher of Brandenburg, representing the dissenting party, to meet and draw up a draft formula that would secure peaceful coexistence for both within his dominions. The four met, conferred, and compiled a text consisting of 26 articles divided into two parts. In the first, of a doctrinal character intended to satisfy the Catholics, were set forth teachings on the Pope, the hierarchy, justification, the Sacraments, and monastic vows, expounded in