CASSOVIA, DIOCESE OF. – In Czechoslovakia. The city (Slovak Košice, Hungarian Kassa, German Kaschau) is an important cultural and economic centre in eastern Slovakia. Until 1918 it belonged to Hungary, then to Czechoslovakia. It temporarily reverted to Hungary following the Vienna Arbitration (1938). Since 1945 it has again been part of Czechoslovakia.
The cathedral of St Elizabeth is the most imposing Gothic building east of the Elbe. Begun in 1378, it was completed at the end of the 15th century. It is in a transitional Gothic style with basilican features, having five longitudinal naves and one transverse nave, plus chapels along the south side; yet its ornamentation already shows late forms. The main tower was never finished, while the northern tower received a Baroque spire. The west and north portals are adorned with valuable sculptures. Inside are admired the high altar (a fine wooden sculptural work, 1474–77), many Gothic panels, an elegant Gothic tabernacle in the form of a tower, and in the crypt the tombs of the Rákóczy family. The cathedral suffered severe damage in the earthquake of 1884 and was restored in 1886–96. Other notable churches include St Michael’s (13th-century Gothic), the Dominican church (14th century), the former Jesuit church (now Premonstratensian, 1671) and the modern church of Our Lady (1938).
Religiously, the city was important during the religious wars of the 17th century as a bastion of the Protestant Reformation and a focus of all Protestant revolts against the Habsburgs. For almost a century the Calvinists used the cathedral for their worship, and in 1619 they martyred three blessed martyrs of Cassovia (see below). For the Catholic restoration the Jesuits founded a college and an academy of university standing (1660–1773). There was also a law academy until 1922. Since 1946 the university has been rebuilt, with the faculty of engineering and, in 1948, that of medicine.
The diocese was erected on 10 August 1804 as suffragan of the archdiocese of Agria (Eger), from which it was detached with 149 parishes. In the same year the diocesan seminary was established. After 1918 the diocese was split by the Czechoslovak frontier: 156 parishes with the episcopal city remained in Czechoslovakia, 46 in Hungary. For these Hungarian parishes the Holy See erected an apostolic administration at Szikszó in 1937. Also in 1937 the diocese of Cassovia was separated from the ecclesiastical province of Agria and placed directly under the Holy See. After the Vienna Arbitration of 1939 the apostolic administration at Szikszó was reunited with the diocese, while for the Slovak part an apostolic administration was set up at Prešov, together with the 37 parishes of the diocese of Rožňava and five parishes of the diocese of Satu-Mare that remained in Slovakia. As of 1949, the jurisdiction of the bishop of Cassovia extends over the entire Slovak portion of the diocese plus 13 parishes of the diocese of Satu-Mare (situated in Romania).
Statistics (1948). – The diocese in Slovakia comprises: area 8,566 km², 167 parishes, 240 diocesan priests, 33 religious houses, 292,681 Latin-rite Catholics out of 570,430 inhabitants (this total includes about 200,000 Eastern-rite Catholics belonging to the diocese of Prešov [see]). The apostolic administration of Satu-Mare comprises: area 903 km², 13 parishes, 19 diocesan priests, 18,219 Latin-rite Catholics out of 43,945 inhabitants. The Hungarian portion of the diocese of Cassovia, under the jurisdiction of the apostolic administrator at Szikszó, comprises: 49 parishes, 85,000 Catholics. – See Pl. LVI.