ROTTENBURGO, DIOCESI di. — City and diocese in Württemberg, Germany.
It has an area of 19,155 sq. km, with a population of 3,316,865 inhabitants, of whom 1,320,624 are Catholics, distributed among 754 parishes served by 1,026 diocesan priests and 264 religious priests; it has two seminaries, one in R. and the other in Mergentheim; 30 male and 24 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1952, p. 342). The diocese is suffragan to Freiburg im Breisgau.
As a result of the secularization of 1803, Württemberg, until then entirely Protestant, acquired Catholic territories administered by the dioceses of Constance, Augsburg, Würzburg, Worms, Speyer, and by the provostry of Ellwangen. To simplify this situation, the government created a general vicariate at Ellwangen for the territories of Württemberg, with a seminary and a theological faculty. The auxiliary bishop of Augsburg, Franz Karl Fürst von Hohenlohe, previously designated for Ellwangen, became vicar general. His appointment was not initially regular from the ecclesiastical point of view; only later did he receive confirmation from the primate V. Dahlberg. The Holy See, however, recognized the vicar general only in 1816 and appointed the Rev. von Keller as pro-vicar, with the right of succession. In 1817 the last territories of Württemberg, which were not yet subject to the new vicariate, were incorporated into II. In the same year the seat of the vicariate was transferred to R., and the theological faculty was transferred to Tübingen. The bull Provida sollersque of 16 August 1821 and the bull Ad Dominici of 11 April 1827 subsequently constituted the diocese, defining the rights of the bishop and those of the Chapter. The first bishop was the same vicar general, von Keller (1828–45), followed by Joseph Lipp, parish priest of Ehingen. Religious life experienced considerable growth through popular missions and charitable works. Under Karl Joseph V. Hefele (1869–93), while the Kulturkampf was raging throughout Germany, the diocese was scarcely affected by II. Bishop Wilhelm von Reiser (1893–98) distinguished himself through the care he devoted to Catholics in the predominantly Protestant territories of the diocese (the diaspora). Bishop Wilhelm von Keppler (1898–1926) is known for his oratory and for his work restoring the monasteries of Neresheim and Weingarten. Bishop J. B. Sproll (1927–49) fought against the errors of Nazism and was forced to live in exile for six years.
The diocese has 1,089 churches, 744 parishes, and 1,026 diocesan priests; of the 3,317,000 inhabitants, 1,302,000 are Catholics.