MOHILEV, ARCHDIOCESE OF. — It was erected in 1773 by the Empress Catherine II of Russia and in 1783 by the Holy See for the Latin Catholics of the entire former Russian Empire, excluding Ukraine. During the time of the tsars, it extended beyond Siberia as far as the Pacific Ocean.
In 1798 the holder of Mohilev obtained the privilege of wearing cardinal’s attire. An academy for the formation of the clergy of Mohilev existed in St. Petersburg from 1841. The holders of Mohilev suffered greatly due to the abusive interference of the tsars in the internal affairs of the diocese and in its relations with the Holy See. There were never tolerable relations between the state and the Catholics of Mohilev.
Even after the Edict of Tolerance of 1905, Catholics continued to be regarded as foreigners in the country. Under the Bolsheviks the situation worsened further. The administrator of Mohilev, Msgr. Cieplak (q.v.), was sentenced to death in 1923 and then exchanged and expelled from Russia. In 1926 the archdiocese of Mohilev was divided by a delegate of the Holy See into six administrations, after Siberia had already been separated as an apostolic vicariate in 1923. At present, no one is able to administer these jurisdictions. The number of surviving Latin Catholics in the former territory of Mohilev is unknown. Officially, there is only one church open in Moscow for foreign Catholics.