The Bishop of Chur (German: ''Bischof von Chur'') is the ordinary of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Chur The Diocese of Chur is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Switzerland. It extends over the Swiss Cantons of Graubünden (Grisons), Schwyz, Glarus, Zurich, Nidwalden, Obwalden and Uri. The modern Cathol ...

Grisons The Grisons () or Graubünden,Names include: *german: (Kanton) Graubünden ; * Romansh: ** rm, label= Sursilvan, (Cantun) Grischun ** rm, label=Vallader, (Chantun) Grischun ** rm, label= Puter, (Chantun) Grischun ** rm, label=Surmiran, (Cant ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

(Latin: ''Dioecesis Curiensis'')."Diocese of Chur"
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Catholic-Hierarchy.org ''Catholic-Hierarchy.org'' is an online database of bishops and dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Catholic Churches. The website is not officially sanctioned by the Church. It is run as a private project by David M. Cheney in ...

''. David M. Cheney. Retrieved February 29, 2016"Diocese of Chur"
''GCatholic.org''. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved February 29, 2016

History

A Bishop of Chur is first mentioned in 451/452 when Asinius attended the

Synod of Milan The Synod of Milan or Council of Milan may refer to any of several synods which occurred in late Roman Mediolanum or medieval Milan in northern Italy's Po valley: Synod of 345 In 353 or 354, Pope Liberius wrote thus: ''"Eight years ago the Eusebi ...

, but probably existed a century earlier. According to local tradition, the first Bishop of Chur was Saint Lucius, who is said to have died a martyr at Chur about the year 176, and whose relics are preserved in the cathedral. In the 7th century the bishopric acquired several territories south to the

Lake of Constance Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Lake ...

. The see was at first

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdictiona ...

to the archbishop of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, but after the

treaty of Verdun The Treaty of Verdun (), agreed in , divided the Francia, Frankish Empire into three kingdoms among the surviving sons of the emperor Louis the Pious, Louis I, the son and successor of Charlemagne. The treaty was concluded following almost three ...

(843) it became suffragan to

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

. In 958 Holy Roman Emperor Otto I gave the bishopric to his vassal Hartpert with numerous privileges including control over the

Septimer Pass Septimer Pass (German: ''Septimerpass'', Italian: ''Passo del Settimo'', Romansh: ''Pass da Sett''; elevation ) is a high mountain pass in the canton of Graubünden in the Swiss Alps between the valleys of Bregaglia (Bergell) and Surses (Ober ...

, at the time the main pass through the

central Alps The Alps form a large mountain range dominating Central Europe, including parts of Italy, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Slovenia, Germany and possibly Hungary (if one includes the Kőszeg Mountains). This article describes the del ...

. These concessions strengthened the bishopric's temporal power and later it became a princedom within the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

. At the time of the

Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynasty ...

emperors in the 12th to early 13th centuries, some bishops of Chur were appointed by the emperor, which for a period led to existence of two bishops at the same time, the other being appointed by the pope. In the 14th century bishop Siegfried von Gelnhausen acquired the imperial diocese of Chur from the Barons Von Vaz and represented emperor Henry VII in Italy. In 1803 the see became immediately subject to the Holy See. Until 1997, the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vaduz The Archdiocese of Vaduz encompasses the territory of the Principality of Liechtenstein. History The Archdiocese of Vaduz was erected by Pope John Paul II in the apostolic constitution ''Ad satius consulendum'' on 2 December 1997. Before then i ...

had been part of the diocese of Chur. As of May 20, 2019, the position of is vacant, though

Pierre Bürcher Pierre Bürcher (born 20 December 1945) is a Swiss prelate of the Catholic Church who is currently serving as apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Chur. He was Bishop of Reykjavík, Iceland, from 2007 to 2015. Biography Pierre Bürcher was ...

runs the Diocese as

apostolic administrator An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

List of Bishops of Chur

References

External links

Official website
(in German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Chur, Bishop Austrian Circle Lists of Swiss people de:Liste der Bischöfe von Chur fr:Diocèse de Coire it:Diocesi di Chur