BUDWEIS (České Budějovice), DIOCESE OF. - A city in Czechoslovakia, the most important in southern Bohemia, founded in the second half of the 12th century at the behest of King Přemysl Ottocar II of Bohemia. During the religious struggles arising from the preaching and activity of Jan Hus, B. remained entirely Catholic, and within its walls many Catholic priests and religious found safe refuge when persecuted. When King George of Poděbrady took up arms in defense of the movement that sought to sever Bohemia from the Church of Rome, B. allied itself with the Bohemian nobility against the Utraquist king. On 27 November 1785 it was erected as a diocese, suffragan to the archbishopric of Prague.
Within its jurisdiction, over a population of 830,000, there are 730,000 faithful, distributed in 430 parishes, served by 430 diocesan priests and 38 regular clergy (1948). Among its monuments worthy of mention are the Catholic cathedral, with its characteristic tower of black stone; the church of St Mark, built in the 13th century; the Cistercian abbey of Vyšší Brod (Hohenfurth), founded in 1259; and the Dominican convent.