Enciclopedia Cattolica

LOMZA (LOMZA), DIOCESI DI

Łomża (Łomża), Diocese of

Volume VII · p. 911 · 1951

English translation · Testo originale italiano

LOMZA (Lomza), DIOCESI di. - Fondata il 10 febbr. 1925 in Polonia, suffraganca di Wilna. Primo vescovo: Romuald Jabrzykowski, futuro arcivescovo di Wilna.
LOMZA (Lomza), DIOCESI di. - Fondata il 10 febbr. 1925 in Polonia, suffraganca di Wilna. Primo vescovo: Romuald Jabrzykowski, futuro arcivescovo di Wilna.

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

LOMZA (Lomża), DIocese of. — Established on 10 Feb. 1925 in Poland, a suffragan of Vilnius. First bishop: Romuald Jabrzykowski, later archbishop of Vilnius.

Area: 13,100 sq. km. Catholics: 580,000. Parishes: 135. Churches: 147, of which 136 are parish churches, served by 220 diocesan priests, assisted by 2 male and 14 female religious communities. No further official details are available (Ann. Pont., 1951, p. 252). During the German occupation, 48 priests perished, either killed, imprisoned, or in concentration camps.

Pilgrimage centres: Hodyszewo, Studzieniczna, Wąsćwo. L. belonged to the dukes of Masovia; it was founded in 1418, though its origins date back to the 11th century. There is a Gothic parish church from the 16th century; an 18th-century church and convent of the Capuchins. At Ostrołęka there is a parish church from 1399 and one of the Bernardines from 1665. L. suffered repeated destruction through wars and invasions.

BIBL.: M. Baliński-T. Lipiński, Starożytna Polska, I, Warsaw 1844, pp. 525-29; Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego, V, ibid. 1884, pp. 669-714; M. Walicki-J. Starzyński, Dzieje Sztuki Polskiej, Warsaw 1936, pp. 117-19; M. Pirożyński, Statystyka Kościoła katolickiego w Polsce, in Homo Dei, 1946, II, pp. 80-82; id., Seminaria Duchowne w Polsce, ibid., 1944, I, p. 84; id., Ze statystyki Kościoła w Polsce, ibid., 1948, IV, pp. 464-467; V, pp. 578-79; Statystyka strat Kościoła w Polsce, in Inter-catholic press agency, 9 March 1949, no. 10, p. 11.