The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oran (french: Diocèse d'Oran, la, Dioecesis Oranensis) 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 ...

in the

Ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United State ...

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

History

The current diocese of Oran was created on 25 July 1866, with the diocese of Constantine, by dismemberment of the single diocese of Algiers (established in 1838). It is limited to the east by the Archdiocese of Algiers, to the south by the

Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

, to the west by the border of

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

; it covers nearly . It is believed that its current population is around 8 million inhabitants spread over 9 departments. At the time of

Saint Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...

, about thirty bishoprics existed on the current extent of the diocese; from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Oran, occupied by the Spaniards, depended on the

Archbishop of Toledo This is a list of Bishops and Archbishops of Toledo ( la, Archidioecesis Metropolitae Toletana).

. After the massive departure of the French at the independence of Algeria in 1962, then of foreign workers at the beginning of the

Algerian civil war The Algerian Civil War ( ar, rtl=yes, الْحَرْبُ الْأَهْلِيَّةُ الجَزَائِرِيَّةُ, al-Ḥarb al-ʾAhlīyah al-Jazāʾirīyah) was a civil war in Algeria fought between the Algerian government and various Is ...

, the Catholic community only has a few hundred members nowadays.

Special churches

The seat of the bishop is Cathédrale Sainte-Marie in

Oran Oran ( ar, وَهران, Wahrān) is a major coastal city located in the north-west of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria after the capital Algiers, due to its population and commercial, industrial, and cultural ...

Ordinaries

Bishops of Oran

Jean-Baptiste-Irénée Callot Jean-Baptiste-Irénée Callot (1814-1875) was a French Roman Catholic priest. He served as the first Bishop of Oran in Oran, French Algeria from 1867 to 1875. Early life Jean-Baptiste-Irénée Callot was born on 23 November 1814 in Beaujeu, Rhô ...

( – ) # ( – ), appointed Bishop of Digne, France # ( – ), appointed Bishop of La Rochelle (-Saintes), France # ( – ), appointed Bishop of Perpignan-Elne, France # ( – ) # ( – ) # ( – ) # ( – ), appointed Bishop of Périgueux (-Sarlat), France # ( – ) #

Bertrand Lacaste Bertrand Lacaste (born 26 June 1897 in Accous – 20 April 1994) was a French clergyman and bishop for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oran The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oran (french: Diocèse d'Oran, la, Dioecesis Oranensis) is a Roman Cathol ...

( – ) #

Henri Teissier Henri Antoine Marie Teissier (21 July 1929 – 1 December 2020)

( – ), appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Alger # Pierre Lucien Claverie, OP ( – ) # Alphonse Georger (July 10, 1998 – December 1, 2012) # Jean-Paul Vesco, OP ( – )

References

Sources

*
GCatholic.org

External links

{{authority control

Oran, Roman Catholic Diocese of 1866 establishments in Algeria