The Latin Archbishopric of Corinth is a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. It dates to 1210, when a Catholic archbishop was installed on the Orthodox

Metropolis of Corinth The Metropolis of Corinth, Sicyon, Zemenon, Tarsos and Polyphengos ( el, Ιερά Μητρόπολις Κορίνθου, Σικυώνος, Ζεμενού, Ταρσού και Πολυφέγγους) is a metropolitan see of the Church of Greece in ...

, in southern

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, in the aftermath of the

Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...

. Since the Byzantine reconquest in the early 15th century, and except for a brief period of Venetian rule in 1688–1715, it has been awarded as a titular see. It has been vacant since 2005.

History

The

See of Corinth The Metropolis of Corinth, Sicyon, Zemenon, Tarsos and Polyphengos ( el, Ιερά Μητρόπολις Κορίνθου, Σικυώνος, Ζεμενού, Ταρσού και Πολυφέγγους) is a metropolitan see of the Church of Greece in ...

has a long history, and is held to have been founded by the

Apostle Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

. In the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

and early

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

periods, Corinth was the capital and metropolitan see of the province of

Achaea Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaïa'' ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. The ...

(southern

).Gregory (1991), pp. 531–533 From the early 9th century, however, the primacy of Corinth over the Peloponnese was challenged by the

See of Patras The Metropolis of Patras ( el, Ιερά Μητρόπολις Πατρών) is a metropolitan see of the Church of Greece in the city of Patras in Achaea, Greece. The see traces its origins to its patron saint, Saint Andrew, in the 1st century. ...

, and from the 10th century on the jurisdiction of the See of Corinth was restricted to the eastern Peloponnese and certain of the Ionian Islands. In 1203/4, the city fell to the lord of the Argolid,

Leo Sgouros Leo Sgouros ( el, Λέων Σγουρός), Latinized as Leo Sgurus, was a Greek independent lord in the northeastern Peloponnese in the early 13th century. The scion of the magnate Sgouros family, he succeeded his father as hereditary lord in th ...

, who used the weakness of the Byzantine government and the turmoil of the

to carve out for himself a practically independent state in southern and central Greece. Sgouros' ambitions to create a state of his own were checked by the onslaught of the victorious Crusaders, who captured Corinth in 1210 after a long siege. The Crusaders established a Roman Catholic ("Latin") Archbishopric to replace the Greek Orthodox see, covering the same territory: the seven

suffragan see A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, ...

s of

Cephalonia Kefalonia or Cephalonia ( el, Κεφαλονιά), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallenia (), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece and the 6th largest island in Greece after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. It i ...

Zakynthos Zakynthos (also spelled Zakinthos; el, Ζάκυνθος, Zákynthos ; it, Zacinto ) or Zante (, , ; el, Τζάντε, Tzánte ; from the Venetian form) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the third largest of the Ionian Islands. Za ...

Damala Troezen (; ancient Greek: Τροιζήν, modern Greek: Τροιζήνα ) is a small town and a former municipality in the northeastern Peloponnese, Greece, on the Argolid Peninsula. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the munic ...

Lacedaemon Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

Monemvasia Monemvasia ( el, Μονεμβασιά, Μονεμβασία, or ) is a town and municipality in Laconia, Greece. The town is located on a small island off the east coast of the Peloponnese, surrounded by the Myrtoan Sea. The island is connected t ...

Argos Argos most often refers to: * Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece ** Ancient Argos, the ancient city * Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland Argos or ARGOS may also refer to: Businesses ...

Helos Helos ( grc, τὸ Ἕλος, meaning "marshland" or "swamp"), also Hele (Ἕλη), was a town of ancient Laconia, situated east of the mouth of the Eurotas, close to the sea, in a plain which, though marshy near the coast, is described by Polybiu ...

and Zemena. In reality, Monemvasia and Helos were not to come under Latin control until thirty years later, and the Latin clergy had difficulty imposing itself on the rural Greek population and priesthood. As a result, the sees of Damala, Helos and Zemena seem to have never been occupied, and Zemena and one half of Damala came to form part of the diocese of Corinth itself. Along with its rival, the

Latin Archbishop of Patras The Latin Archbishopric of Patras is the see of Patras in the period in which its incumbents belonged to the Latin or Western Church. This period began in 1205 with the installation in the see of a Catholic archbishop following the Fourth Crusade. ...

, the Archbishop of Corinth ranked as one of the two senior ecclesiastic

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

s in the

Principality of Achaea The Principality of Achaea () or Principality of Morea was one of the three vassal states of the Latin Empire, which replaced the Byzantine Empire after the capture of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade. It became a vassal of the Kingdom o ...

, with eight knight's fiefs attached to him (and four each for the suffragan bishops of Argos and Lacedaemon). Nevertheless, despite its ancestry and prestige, Corinth was rapidly eclipsed by Patras during the period of Frankish rule.

Le Quien Michel Le Quien (8 October 1661, Boulogne-sur-Mer – 12 March 1733, Paris) was a French historian and theologian. He studied at Plessis College, Paris, and at twenty entered the Dominican convent in Faubourg Saint-Germain, where he made his pro ...

(III, 883) mentions twenty Latin prelates from 1210 to 1700, but

Eubel Konrad Eubel or Conradus Eubel (19 January 1842 – 5 February 1923) was a German Franciscan historian. He is known for his reference work, the ''Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi'', on medieval popes, cardinals and bishops. It appeared in thre ...

(I, 218; II, 152) mentions twenty-two archbishops for the period from 1212 to 1476. The city was recovered by the Byzantine

Despotate of the Morea The Despotate of the Morea ( el, Δεσποτᾶτον τοῦ Μορέως) or Despotate of Mystras ( el, Δεσποτᾶτον τοῦ Μυστρᾶ) was a province of the Byzantine Empire which existed between the mid-14th and mid-15th centu ...

in 1395, and, after a short period (1397–1404) of rule by the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...

, returned to Byzantine hands, where it remained until it fell to the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

on 8 August 1458. After this the Catholic see remained as a

. The Archbishopric of Corinth became once more the centre of the Catholic Church in the Peloponnese during the brief period of Venetian rule in 1688–1715, while the Orthodox Metropolis of Patras remained the centre of the local Orthodox Church.Vakalopoulos (1975), p. 209

Residential archbishops

Titular archbishops

References

Sources

* * * * * Pius Bonifacius Gams
''Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae''
Leipzig 1931, pp. 430-431 *

Konrad Eubel Konrad Eubel or Conradus Eubel (19 January 1842 – 5 February 1923) was a German Franciscan historian. He is known for his reference work, the ''Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi'', on medieval popes, cardinals and bishops. It appeared in thre ...

, ''Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi''
vol. 1
, p. 210
vol. 2
p. 136
vol. 3
, p. 178
vol. 4
pp. 164-165
vol. 5
p. 173
vol. 6
p. 183 *"Corinthe", i
''Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastiques''
vol. XIII, Paris 1956, coll. 876-880

External links

at ''catholic-hierarchy.org'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Corinth, Latin Archbishopric of Catholic titular sees in Europe

Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part o ...

Baronies of the Principality of Achaea Former Roman Catholic dioceses in Greece

Latin Archbishopric of Corinth The Latin Archbishopric of Corinth is a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church. It dates to 1210, when a Catholic archbishop was installed on the Orthodox Metropolis of Corinth, in southern Greece, in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade. Since th ...

1210 establishments in Europe