MEISSEN, DIOCESE OF. - City and diocese in Saxony.
The diocese has an area of 17,460 sq. km with a population of 6,042,219 inhabitants, of whom 592,531 are Catholics. It has 93 parishes served by 293 priests.
Emperor Enrico I founded the castle of Misni on the Upper Elbe in 930 to fortify dominion over the region and to make it a base for the spread of Christianity. Ottone I organized the foundation of the diocese, which was confirmed by Pope Giovanni XII at the Synod of Ravenna in 967. The first bishop of M. was Burcardo, consecrated at Christmas in 968. The diocese encompassed the Slavic territories of Dalaminza, Nisane, Diedesa, Milzane, and Lusiza. Despite the zealous work of Bishops Eido (992-1015) and St. Benno (1066-1106), Christianity did not easily take root among the Slavic populations. Only during the period of eastern German colonization, in the 13th century, did the population in the eastern parts of the diocese open up to the Gospel as well. The bishops of M., although the territory of the diocese was not very large, were princes of the Empire, and from the 13th century possessed the right to mint coins. In 1365, Urbano V appointed the Archbishop of Prague as legatus natus and subordinated the diocese of M. to him as well, dissolving its relationship as a suffragan to Magdeburg. After bitter disputes at first, the diocese established close ties with Prague, and Bishop Thimo di Koldiz (1398-1410), a Bohemian, filled the principal offices of the diocese with men of his nationality. He lived in Prague himself and neglected his diocese. For this reason, Margrave Guglielmo I of Saxony obtained a bull from Bonifacio IX in 1399 declaring the diocese exempt and immediately subject to Rome. Under Bishops Caspar di Schönberg (1451-63) and his brother Dietrich (1463-76), the diocese recovered from the wounds suffered during the Hussite Wars. Giovanni VII di Schleinitz (1518-36) submitted to the territorial authority of Duke Giorgio of Saxony and found in him strong support against the Protestant Reformation. He restored discipline among the clergy and laity and promoted the canonization of Bishop Benno. The last bishop, Giovanni IX di Haugwitz (1555-81), relinquished his authority into the hands of the Cathedral Chapter and became a Protestant. Jurisdiction over Lusiza was transferred to the Dean of Bautzen, and the apostolic nuncio incorporated it into the Chapter of that city and subjected it directly to the Pope. Thus the diocese passed under the administration of the Electorate of Saxony. The Cathedral Chapter became Protestant, and the monasteries of the city of M. were secularized.
By the apost. const. Sollecitado omnium ecclesiarum of May 24, 1921, Pope Benedetto XV reconstituted the diocese of M. with its see at Bautzen. The Chapter comprises a dean and four canons. The new diocese comprises the vicariate of Dresda and the apostolic prefecture of Bautzen for Lusiza. Since 1927, an ecclesiastical seminary has existed in Schmochtitz.