The Archdiocese of Gniezno ( la, Archidioecesis Gnesnensis, pl, Archidiecezja Gnieźnieńska) is the oldest Latin Catholic

archdiocese 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 ...

in Poland, located in the city of Gniezno."Archdiocese of Gniezno"
'' Catholic-Hierarchy.org''. David M. Cheney. Retrieved March 27, 2016"Metropolitan Archdiocese of Gniezno"
''GCatholic.org''. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved March 27, 2016 The ecclesiastical province comprises the

suffragan diocese 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

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...

and

Włocławek Włocławek (Polish pronunciation: ; german: Leslau) is a city located in central Poland along the Vistula (Wisła) River and is bordered by the Gostynin-Włocławek Landscape Park. As of December 2021, the population of the city is 106,928. Loc ...

History

Catedral de Gniezno, Polonia, 2012-04-05, DD 32

The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Gniezno was established in

1000 AD 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

on the initiative of the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

duke

Bolesław I the Brave Bolesław I the Brave ; cs, Boleslav Chrabrý; la, Boleslaus I rex Poloniae (17 June 1025), less often known as Bolesław the Great, was Duke of Poland from 992 to 1025, and the first King of Poland in 1025. He was also Duke of Bohemia betw ...

. He had the relics of the missionary and martyr Adalbert of Prague (''Wojciech'') transferred to Gniezno Cathedral, which soon became a major pilgrimage site. Here Bolesław met with Emperor

Otto III Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was crowned as King of ...

in the

Congress of Gniezno The Congress of Gniezno ( pl, Zjazd gnieźnieński, german: Akt von Gnesen or ''Gnesener Übereinkunft'') was an amicable meeting between the Polish Duke Bolesław I the Brave and Emperor Otto III, which took place at Gniezno in Poland on 11 Ma ...

, where the duke obtained investiture rights and created the Gniezno archbishopric, superseding the older

Diocese of Poznań 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 ...

. Led by Adalbert's half-brother Radim Gaudentius, the ecclesiastical province then comprised the suffragan dioceses in Kraków, Wrocław, and

Kołobrzeg Kołobrzeg ( ; csb, Kòlbrzég; german: Kolberg, ), ; csb, Kòlbrzég , is a port city in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in north-western Poland with about 47,000 inhabitants (). Kołobrzeg is located on the Parsęta River on the south coast o ...

(extinct in 1015), and from about 1075 also Poznań. The position of the

archbishops In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdioc ...

and their suffragans was confirmed in the 1136

Bull of Gniezno ''Ex commisso nobis'', more commonly known as the ''Bull of Gniezno'', was a papal bull issued on July 7, 1136 by Pope Innocent II. The bull split off the Bishopric of Gniezno from the Archbishop of Magdeburg. From a historical perspective, t ...

issued by

Pope Innocent II Pope Innocent II ( la, Innocentius II; died 24 September 1143), born Gregorio Papareschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 February 1130 to his death in 1143. His election as pope was controversial and the fi ...

. The Gniezno metropolitans held the right to crown the Kings of Poland and in 1412 obtained the status of a Primate of Poland. From 1572, they acted as '' interrex'' regents of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. When on 16 July 1821 the Diocese of Wrocław was put under direct authority of the Holy See by

Pope Pius VII Pope Pius VII ( it, Pio VII; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. Chiaramonti was also a m ...

, Gniezno was affiliated in personal union ('' aeque principaliter'') with the Archdiocese of Poznań. The union of Poznań and Gniezno was again dissolved with effect from 12 November 1948, when a personal union ('' in persona episcopi'') between the Archdiocese of Warsaw and Gniezno was established. By Apostolic constitution of 25 March 1992, Pope John Paul II again divided the union between the archdioceses of Gniezno and Warsaw.

Special churches

*Minor Basilicas: ** Bazylika św. Apostołów Piotra i Pawła, Kruszwica ** Bazylika Wniebowzięcia Najświętszej Marii Panny,

Trzemeszno Trzemeszno (german: Tremessen) is a town in Gniezno County, west-central Poland belonging to the group of the oldest settlements in the region. The town's name derives from an Old Polish word “Trzemcha” meaning the flower of the "Bird’s C ...

Leadership

* List of archbishops of Gniezno and primates of Poland

Suffragan dioceses

, established in 2004 *

, established about 1015 (split off

as Diocese of Kujawy–Pomorze), interrupted 1818–1925 (then suffragan of Warsaw as Diocese of Kujawy–Kalisz)

Former suffragans

* Diocese of Krakow, 1000–1807, became suffragan of

Lwów Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

(Lviv), suffragan of Warsaw in 1818, raised to archbishopric in 1925 * Diocese of Wrocław, 1000–1821 (exempt), raised to archbishopric in 1930 * Diocese of Kołobrzeg, 1000–1007 (Bishop Reinbern), re-established as suffragan diocese of Koszalin-Kołobrzeg in 1972, became suffragan of Szczecin-Kamień in 1992 *

, 1075–1821, raised to archbishopric, in personal union with Gniezno until 1946 *

Diocese of Płock 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 associat ...

, 1075–1818, suffragan of Warsaw * Diocese of Lubusz (Lebus), established about 1125, suffragan of Magdeburg from 1424, secularised in 1598 * Diocese of Vilnius, 1388–1798, raised to archbishopric in 1926 *

Diocese of Samogitia The Archdiocese of Kaunas ( la, Archidioecesis Kaunensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Lithuania. The episcopal see is in Kaunas, the second-largest city in Lithuania. The archdiocese's ...

, established in 1427, dissolved in 1798, re-established in 1849, raised to archbishopric (Archdiocese of

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

) in 1926 * Diocese of Warsaw, 1798-1813, raised to archbishopric, in personal union with Gniezno 1946-1992 *

Diocese of Chełmno 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 ...

, 1821–1992, de facto already joining Gniezno councils since 1566, replaced by the Diocese of Pelplin, suffragan of

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

(see below) * Diocese of Łuck (Lutsk), 16th century, united with Diocese of Kyiv–Černihiv in 1798 * Diocese of Inflanty (Wenden), 1621–1798 * Diocese of Smolensk, 1636–1783, merged into Archdiocese of Mohilev in 1818 *

Diocese of Gdańsk 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 associat ...

, established in 1925 (exempt), suffragan of Gniezno from 1972, raised to archbishopric in 1992 * Diocese of Szczecin-Kamień, established in 1972, raised to archbishopric in 1992

References