Diocese of Lydda ( Lod) is one of the oldest

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

s of the

early Christian Church Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish ...

in the Holy Land. Suppressed under Persian and Arab-Islamic rule, it was revived by the Crusaders and remains a Latin Catholic

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 archbis ...

History

In early Christian times, Lydda was a prosperous Jewish town located on the intersection of the North – South and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

to Babylon roads. According to the Bible, Lod was founded by Semed of the Israelite

Tribe of Benjamin According to the Torah, the Tribe of Benjamin () was one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The tribe was descended from Benjamin, the youngest son of the patriarch Jacob (later given the name Israel) and his wife Rachel. In the Samaritan Pentate ...

; Some of its inhabitants were led into Babylonian exile, part of them returned, but by mid second century, the king of Syria gave it to the Maccabees, who kept control until the arrival of Roman conqueror Pompei in

Judea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous sou ...

Flavius Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...

confirms

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, ...

gave it in 48 BC to the Hebrews, but Cassius sold the population in 44 BC,

Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the au ...

released them two years later. The city saw Roman civil wars and Hebrew revolts in the first century, was officially renamed Diospolis, but remained known as Lod or Lydda. Christians established themselves there after Saint Peter preached there and cured the paralytic Eneas. A church was built when

Saint Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupat ...

visited the city between 31–36AD. By 120 AD most of the inhabitants were Christian. The episcopal see was established by the first

Byzantine emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, to Fall of Constantinople, its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. On ...

Constantin the Great, as suffragan of the Archdiocese of Caesarea in Palestina, in the sway of the original Patriarchate of Jerusalem. In December 415, the Council of Diospolis was held in the

to try British monk

Pelagius Pelagius (; c. 354–418) was a British theologian known for promoting a system of doctrines (termed Pelagianism by his opponents) which emphasized human choice in salvation and denied original sin. Pelagius and his followers abhorred the moral ...

; he was acquitted but his heresy

Pelagianism Pelagianism is a Christian theological position that holds that the original sin did not taint human nature and that humans by divine grace have free will to achieve human perfection. Pelagius ( – AD), an ascetic and philosopher from t ...

condemned. The earliest historically recorded

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

is Aëtius, a friend of Arius.

The city was renamed ''Georgiopolis'' after local martyr St George,

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of England, who was born Lod and buried on the site of the basilica of Georgius, first mentioned about 530 by pilgrim Theodosius. It suffered gravely under pagan Persian border incursions and faded at the advent of Arab Muslims. ;''Byzantine Suffragan Bishops of Lydda/ Diopolis/ Georgiopolis'' *'' (according to tradition)

Zenas the Lawyer Zenas the Lawyer ( grc, Ζηνᾶς) was a first-century Christian mentioned in Paul the Apostle's Epistle to Titus in the New Testament. In Titus 3:13, Paul writes: "Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be w ...

'' * Aëtius, a friend of Arius (fl. 325 - death before 335) * Dionysius (fl. 381 - death before 415) * Photinus (fl. 449 - 451) * Apollonius (fl. 518) * Eustatius

Latin Crusader bishopric

In 1099, during the triumphant

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic r ...

(1096–1099), Lydda and Arab neighbour town Ramla were assigned to Robert, a Norman known after his natal diocese Rouen (in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, France, where conquering Vikings were christianized only a few generations). This briefly created the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lydda and Ramla. The crusaders seized

Ramla Ramla or Ramle ( he, רַמְלָה, ''Ramlā''; ar, الرملة, ''ar-Ramleh'') is a city in the Central District of Israel. Today, Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with both a significant Jewish and Arab populations. The city was f ...

without fight on 3 June 1099, because the Muslim garrison had left the town before their arrival. Located at the crossing of two roads, Ramla was a strategically important fortress. The nearby Lydda was the most important shrine of the warrior saint,

Saint George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldie ...

. The crusaders held an assembly and decided to establish a bishopric in the town. Robert was installed as virtual prince-bishop, wielding temporal feudal power as well as religious jurisdiction, obliged to supply a cavalry contingent to the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. In 1110 civil jurisdiction over Ramla was split off as a separate

Lordship of Ramla The Lordship of Ramla was one of the Crusader vassal states of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. It has been vassal to and part of the County of Jaffa and Ascalon. History During the First Crusade, Ramla was abandoned by its Muslim inhabitants, a ...

, vested in Baldwin. Saint George's church was burned by Muslims in 1099, but rebuild larger, shifted to the northeast, in the 12th century by the Crusaders as Latin cathedral, but again destroyed by Saracens in 1191, in the fight against English crusader king Richard Lionheart, the

of both knighthood and England being of great significance to his troops. ;''Latin Suffragan Bishops of Lydda'' * Robert of Rouen c 1099 *

Roger Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ( ...

fl. 1110 (Catholic) * Constantinus (fl. 1154–1160) * Reinier = Ranierus (fl. 1164 - death 1169) * Bernard(us) of Lydda (1168?69–1174?90) * Unknown Bishop of Lydda who spoke to king

Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was ...

Lionheart in 1192. *'' Isias'' (

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...

bishop) fl.1202. * Pelagius (? - 27 May 1227), next Bishop of

Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Herit ...

(Spain) * Radulphus = Ralph I (mentioned in 1232) * Ralph of Lydda = Radulfo II † ( fl 1238 - 1244) * Arnaldus (fl. 1250–1253) * William (? - 8 May 1263), next bishop of

Agen The commune of Agen (, ; ) is the prefecture of the Lot-et-Garonne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It lies on the river Garonne southeast of Bordeaux. Geography The city of Agen lies in the southwestern department ...

(France) * John Bishop of Lydda (before 1267 - after 1271) * Godfrey (in 1286), ?Franciscan.

Titular Latin bishopric

As the Crusader kingdom fell to Saladin, Lydda was truly ''

in partibus infidelium 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 archbis ...

''. From the 15th century, it was a Latin

titular bishopric 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 ...

both under the names Lydda and Diospolis in Palaestina, with a messy proliferation of titular incumbents the next century with up to eleven titular bishops 'on' the see of Lydda. ;''Titular Bishops of Lydda/ Diospolis'' * Benedikt Sibenhirter, (20 Nov 1452 – 10 May 1458) * Thomas Lydensis (fl. 1495) * Nicolaus de Braciano, (29 April 1504 – 1509) * Hermanus Nigenbroch, (7 Nov 1509 – 1511) * Petrus Antonii (18 July 1511 – 1515) * Heinrich von Hattingen (10 Dec 1515 - 1519) * Giovanni Brainfort (26 Feb 1517 - 1521) * Thomas Bele (7 June 1521 – 1524) * Pompeo Musacchi (11 May 1524 – ) * Marcus Teggingeri (10 Dec 1568 – ) * Georges Scultetus (3 March 1603 -1613) * Franz Weinhart (26 Feb 1663 – 22 June 1686) * Francisco Varo (5 Feb 1687 – did not take effect) * Giovanni Battista Bruni, (5 August 1765 – 21 Sep 1771) * Johann Baptist Joseph Gobel (27 Jan 1772 – 7 Nov 1793, resigned) * Anselmo Basilici (19 Dec 1814 – 25 May 1818) *

Francesco Pichi Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name " Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Francesco * Francesco I (disambiguation), sev ...

(25 May 1818 – 21 May 1827) *

Robert Gradwell Robert Gradwell (26 January 1777 – 15 March 1833) was an English Catholic bishop, who served as rector of the English College in Rome. In 1828, he was appointed coadjutor to James Bramston, Vicar Apostolic of the London district. Life Gradwe ...

(17 June 1828 – 15 March 1833) * Henri Monnier (23 Feb 1872 – 28 Nov 1916) *

Bernard Nicholas Ward Bernard Nicholas Ward (4 February 1857 – 21 January 1920) was an English prelate who served in the Roman Catholic Church as the Bishop of Brentwood from 1917 until his death in 1920. He was "a distinguished educationalist and the foremost histor ...

(22 March 1917 – 20 July 1917) * Patrice Alexandre Chiasson (27 Jul 1917 – 9 Sep 1920) * Michele Cerrati (15 Sep 1920 – 21 Feb 1925) * John James Joseph Monaghan (10 July 1925 – 7 Jan 1935) * William Richard Griffin (9 March 1935 – 18 March 1944) * Girolamo Bartolomeo Bortignon (4 April 1944 – 9 Sep 1945) * Lawrence Joseph Shehan (17 Nov 1945 – 25 August 1953) *

Frédéric Duc Frédéric and Frédérick are the French versions of the common male given name Frederick. They may refer to: In artistry: * Frédéric Back, Canadian award-winning animator * Frédéric Bartholdi, French sculptor * Frédéric Bazille, Impress ...

(11 Jan 1954 – 10 Dec 1970) *

Marcelino Sérgio Bicego Marcelino is a surname that originated in Spain. There are also several families with the Marcelino surname in Philippines, Portugal, and the Americas (North, Central, and South). * San Marcelino, is a 1st class municipality in the province of Zam ...

(6 August 1971 – 26 May 1978) *

Jean-Baptiste Gourion Jean-Baptiste Gourion, Olivetans, O.S.B.Oliv. (24 October 1934 – 23 June 2005) was a French Catholic Benedictine monk and auxiliary bishop from 2003 until his death in 2005. Biography Gourion was born in 1934 in Oran, Algeria, to a Jewish family ...

, (14 August 2003 – 23 June 2005) *

William Hanna Shomali William Hanna Shomali (born 15 May 1950 in Beit Sahour, West Bank) is a Palestinian Catholic prelate who serves as an auxiliary bishop for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Born in 1950 and ordained priest on June 24, 1972, he has served for ...

(31 March 2010 - ...)David M. Cheney, 1996–2016 Catholic hierarchy

References

External links

GCatholic - (former and) titular see
* Sabino De Sandoli, ''Corpus Inscriptionum Crucesignatorum Terrae Sanctae'', Jerusalem, Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, 1974. * * Charles D. Du Cange, Nicolas Rodolphe Taranne;

Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey Baron Alban Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey (28 May 1837 – 4 April 1916) was a French archaeologist, topographer and orientalist. He is known for his historical works on Crusader states and on military fortifications in the Near East. He is considered by ...

, ''Les familles d'outre-mer'', Paris, Imprimerie Impériale, 1869, pp. 799-802. * Hans Eberhard Mayer, ''The Origins of the Lordships of Ramla and Lydda in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem'', in ''Speculum'', vol. 60, nº 3, July 1985, pp. 537-552. * Bruno Figliuolo, ''Chiesa e feudalità nei principati latini d'Oriente durante il XII secolo'', in Pietro Zerbi (editor), ''Chiesa e mondo feudale nei secoli X-XII: atti della dodicesima settimana internazionale di studio Mendola, 24-28 agosto 1992'', Vita e Pensiero, 1995, pp. 375-410, . * Victor Guérin, Chapitre III - Loudd, in Description géographique, historique et archéologique de la Palestine: Judée, Imprimerie impériale, 1868, pp. 322-334. * Emil Schürer, ''Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi'', J. C. Hinrichs, 1909, I e II, passim. * Fulcran Vigouroux, ''Dictionnaire de la Bible, Parigi, Letouzey et Ané'', 1895-1912. * Gaetano Moroni, ''Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica'', vol. 38, pp. 195-197 * Pius Bonifacius Gams, ''Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae'', Leipzig 1931, p. 453 * Konrad Eubel, ''Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi'', vol. 1, p. 305; vol. 2, p. 144 e 177; vol. 3, pp. 225 e 344; vol. 4, p. 221; vol. 5, p. 251; vol. 6, p. 270 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lydda, Diocese of Roman Catholic dioceses in the Crusader states

History

Latin Crusader bishopric

Titular Latin bishopric

See also

References

External links