LINZ, Diocese of. - City and diocese in Austria; it comprises the federal country of Upper Austria, 12,447 sq km with 1,042,000 inhabitants, of whom about 80,000 are non-Catholics; it is divided into 35 deaneries, with 480 parishes; it has a major and a minor seminary, to which is attached a well-known public gymnasium with a boarding school (the Petrinum).

Since almost the entire territory of the two Austrias, Lower and Upper, depended on distant Passau, outside its borders, Joseph II, with the intention of creating an ecclesiastical circumscription better suited to real needs, decreed on 8 Nov. 1783 the cessation of all Passau jurisdiction in Austrian territory, replacing it with the three dioceses of Vienna, St. Pölten and L., the latter for Upper Austria, with residence in the capital, L. On 28 Jan. 1785 Pius VI sanctioned the change that had taken place. From 1783 to 1909 the former Jesuit church, a rich Baroque construction (1669-78), served as the cathedral; but Bishop Fr. J. Rudiger began in 1862 the construction of a new one, in a French Neo-Gothic style (architect V. Statz), dedicated in 1924.

Within the diocese of L. noteworthy are: Hallstatt, a very ancient center for salt extraction (famous prehistoric burials, of the period called Hallstatt, and historical ones); Lorch, on the site of ancient Laurencum, an episcopal see until the 5th century, whose cathedral still survives in the church of St. Lawrence; at L., St. Martin, a church documented in 799, which includes Roman constructions in its walls. Very remarkable are some grandiose Gothic altarpieces, especially those of St. Wolfgang, the principal work of M. Pacher (1471-81), of Kefermarkt (1490-98), of Gampern (1490-1500) and of Hallstatt, the work of B. Astl (1510-20). Also very noteworthy are the buildings of some monasteries suppressed under Joseph II, such as Garsten, Gleink, Traunkirchen, Mondsee (748-1791), Spital am Pyhrn, with magnificent churches of the Baroque era. As sanctuaries to be remembered, besides Stadl-Paura (v. LAMBACH), Christkindl, a curious Baroque construction by C. A. Carlone and J. Prandtauer (1691 ff.); St. Wolfgang, on the site of the Saint's death (church 1118, Gothic 1430-60; altarpiece by Pacher, mentioned above); Pöstlingberg above L. (present church, 1738-48); Puccheim (1886-90). Some cities, such as Enns, Steyr, Wels (the Roman Ovilaba), Freistadt, preserve spacious Gothic churches and certain medieval and Baroque settings of singular beauty. A specialty are the Fischerkanzele, pulpits in the form of a boat (e.g., Traunkirchen 1753, Fischlham 1759). The libraries of the suppressed monasteries passed to the state Studienbibliothek of L. - See plate XCIII.

Plate XCIII Left: CHURCH OF THE ABBEY OF ST. FLORIAN, built by C. Antonio Carlone (1686). Right: PARISH CHURCH OF KEFERMARKT. Carved altar (1490-98). Triptych with St. Peter, St. Wolfgang and St. Christopher.(fol. Bildarchiv d. U. Nationalbibliothek)

Bibliography9 works

BIBL.: anon., Urkundenbuch des Landes ob der Enns, 9 vols., Linz 1852-1906; M. Riesenhuber, Die kirchl. Barockkunst in Österreich, Vienna 1924; K. Eder, Das Land ob der Enns vor der Glaubensspaltung, Linz 1933; E. Tomek, Kirchengeschichte Österreichs, 2 vols., Vienna 1935-49; H. Karlinger, Im Raum der oberen Donau, Salzburg 1938; J. Zibermayr, Noricum, Bayern und Österreich, Linz 1944; H. Puffer, L. und das Land ob der Enns, ibid. 1947; Fl. Oberchristl, Der Linzer Dom, ibid. 1948; F. Juraschek - W. Jenny, Die Martinskirche in L., ibid. 1949.

Giuseppe Löw

@incollection{ec7_linz_diocesi_di, author = {Lów, Giuseppe}, title = {Linz, diocesi di}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VII}, pages = {1391--1392}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/linz-diocesi-di} }

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Linz, Diocese of

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