The Roman Catholic Diocese of Nicopolis is a

Roman Catholic 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 lette ...

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, 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 Roman province, pro ...

of the

Latin Rite Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, are Catholic rites of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church ''sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language once ...

, which includes the whole northern part of

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

. The seat of the

episcopal see An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...

is in

Rousse Ruse (also transliterated as Rousse, Russe; bg, Русе ) is the fifth largest city in Bulgaria. Ruse is in the northeastern part of the country, on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the Romanian city of Giurgiu, approximately south of ...

, although the diocese is named after

Nicopolis ad Istrum Nicopolis ad Istrum ( el, Νικόπολις ἡ πρὸς Ἴστρον) or Nicopolis ad Iatrum was a Roman and Early Byzantine town. Its ruins are located at the village of Nikyup, 20 km north of Veliko Tarnovo in northern Bulgaria. The t ...

. The diocese is immediately subject of the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

. The current bishop is

Strahil Kavalenov Strahil Kavalenov (March 25, 1966) is a Bulgarian Catholic clergyman and the current bishop of the Nicopolis. Biography Strahil Veselinov Kavalenov was born in the village of Razgrad, Montana District, but grew up in Sofia. He graduated from NG ...

History

Originally erected in 1789, the diocese has not experienced any name changes, nor jurisdictional alterations.

Ordinaries

*Francesco Maria Ferreri, C.P. (20 September 1805 Appointed – Jan 1814 Died) *Fortunato Maria Ercolani, C.P. (27 May 1815 Appointed – 19 April 1822 Appointed, Bishop of Civita Castellana, Orte e Gallese) *Giuseppe-Maria Molajoni (23 September 1825 Appointed – ) *Angelo Parsi (30 July 1847 Appointed – ) *Antonius Jozef Pluym C.P. (15 September 1863 Appointed – 1 March 1870 Resigned) *Ignazio Paoli, C.P. (19 August 1870 Appointed – 27 April 1883 Appointed, Archbishop (Personal Title) of Bucuresti) *Ippolito Agosto, C.P. (27 April 1883 Appointed – 1893 Died) *Henri Doulcet, C.P. (7 January 1895 Appointed – 31 March 1913 Resigned) *Leonardo Baumbach, C.P. (1913 Succeeded – 1915 Died) *Damiaan Johannes Theelen, C.P. (21 May 1915 Appointed – 6 August 1946 Died) *Blessed

Eugene Bossilkov Eugene Bossilkov, born Vincent Bossilkov (b. 16 Nov 1900-11 Nov 1952), was a member of the Passionist Congregation, Roman Catholic bishop of Nicopolis and martyr in the Communist campaign in Bulgaria against religion. He had studied in Rome for ...

, C.P. (26 July 1947 Appointed – 11 November 1952 Died) *Vasco Séirécov (22 July 1975 Appointed – 4 January 1977 Died) *

Samuel Dzhundrin Samuel Dzhundrin (26 April 1920 – 19 March 1998) was a Bulgarian Roman Catholic priest, an Augustinian friar and bishop of Nikopol, Bulgaria. Early life Dzhundrin was born in what is now the town of Rakovski. After the fourth section, he was ...

, A.A. (14 December 1978 Appointed – 28 June 1994 Retired) *

Petko Christov Petko Jordanov Christov, Order of Friars Minor Conventual, O.F.M.Conv. ( bg, Петко Йорданов Христов; 9 October 1950 – 14 September 2020) was a Bulgarian Roman Catholic prelate, who served as a bishop of the Roman Catholi ...

, O.F.M. Conv. (18 October 1994 Appointed – 14 September 2020 Died) *

(20 January 2021 Appointed – present)

Sources and external links

Bibliography

* http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dnicp.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicopolis Roman Catholic dioceses in Bulgaria Ruse, Bulgaria Religious organizations established in 1789 1789 establishments in the Ottoman Empire