The Roman Catholic Diocese of Łomża ( la, Lomzen(sis)) is a

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 ...

located in the city of

Łomża Łomża (), in English known as Lomza, is a city in north-eastern Poland, approximately 150 kilometers (90 miles) to the north-east of Warsaw and west of Białystok. It is situated alongside the Narew river as part of the Podlaskie Voivodeship si ...

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 ...

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Białystok is located in the Białystok Up ...

in Poland.

History

On March 25, 1798 it was established as Diocese of Sejny/Augustów, from the Diocese of Wigry. Its territory had formerly belonged to the Diocese of Vilna, but after the first partition of Poland it fell to

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

Pope Pius VI Pope Pius VI ( it, Pio VI; born Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi, 25 December 171729 August 1799) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1775 to his death in August 1799. Pius VI condemned the French Revoluti ...

carved out the new diocese and established its see at the

Camaldolese The Camaldolese Hermits of Mount Corona ( la, Congregatio Eremitarum Camaldulensium Montis Coronae), commonly called Camaldolese is a monastic order of Pontifical Right for men founded by Saint Romuald. Their name is derived from the Holy Hermita ...

monastery of Wigry, in a village about ten miles east of

Suwałki Suwałki ( lt, Suvalkai; yi, סואוואַלק) is a city in northeastern Poland with a population of 69,206 (2021). It is the capital of Suwałki County and one of the most important centers of commerce in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. Suwałki i ...

. The monastery had been founded under the patronage of King

Władysław II Jagiełło Jogaila (; 1 June 1434), later Władysław II Jagiełło ()He is known under a number of names: lt, Jogaila Algirdaitis; pl, Władysław II Jagiełło; be, Jahajła (Ягайла). See also: Names and titles of Władysław II Jagiełło. w ...

in 1418, and the Church of Our Lady, which became the cathedral, became the parish church of Wigry. The first bishop of the diocese was the preacher Michael Francis Karpowicz (b. 1744; d. 1805). His successor was John Clement Gołaszewski (b. 1748; d. 1820), who enlarged the Wigry cathedral. After the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...

this territory passed to the

Russian Partition The Russian Partition ( pl, zabór rosyjski), sometimes called Russian Poland, constituted the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that were annexed by the Russian Empire in the course of late-18th-century Partitions of Po ...

, and in 1818 the Church throughout the

Congress Poland Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It w ...

was reorganized. By a Bull of Pius VII

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

was made the metropolitan see and the see of Wigry was changed to

Augustów Augustów (; lt, Augustavas, formerly known in English as ''Augustovo'' or ''Augustowo'')" is a city in north-eastern Poland with 29,729 inhabitants as of December 2021. It lies on the Netta River and the Augustów Canal. It is situated in the ...

, a town founded in 1561 by King

Sigismund II Augustus Sigismund II Augustus ( pl, Zygmunt II August, lt, Žygimantas Augustas; 1 August 1520 – 7 July 1572) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. He was the first ruler ...

. The new cathedral and chapter there were inaugurated on December 8, 1819. The next bishop, Ignatius Czyzewski, did not remain at Augustów, but changed his place of residence in 1823 to

Sejny Sejny ( lt, Seinai) is a town in north-eastern Poland and the capital of Sejny County, in Podlaskie Voivodeship, close to the northern border with Lithuania and Belarus. It is located in the eastern part of the Suwałki Lake Area ( pl, Pojezier ...

, a town founded in 1522 by

Sigismund I of Poland Sigismund I the Old ( pl, Zygmunt I Stary, lt, Žygimantas II Senasis; 1 January 1467 – 1 April 1548) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1506 until his death in 1548. Sigismund I was a member of the Jagiellonian dynasty, the ...

, and which is about twenty miles east of Suwałki. The succeeding bishop, Nicholas John Manugiewicz, established the diocesan seminary in 1830, and for many years resided sometimes at Augustowo and then at Sejny. His successor was Stanislaus Choromanski, afterwards

Archbishop of Warsaw The following is a list of the bishops and archbishops of Warsaw. On 30 June 1818, the see was elevated to the rank of an archdiocese. Also included are the auxiliary bishops. Bishops of Warsaw: * Józef Miaskowski, 1798–1804 *, Apostolic A ...

. The next bishop, Straszyński, made the old Dominican church at Sejny his cathedral and entered it as bishop, 4 February 1837. He was in frequent collision with the Russian authorities, and on his death in 1847 the see was kept vacant by the Russian Government until 1863. Constantine Lubieński was then made bishop, and on his death in exile in 1869 at

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...

was succeeded by Bishop Wierzbowski. His successors were Anthony Baranowski, and Anthony Karaś. On October 28, 1925, the diocese was renamed as the diocese of Łomża. Wikisource:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Diocese of Sejny

Leadership

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 ca ...

s of Łomża (Roman rite) ** Bishop Janusz Stepnowski (since 2011.11.11) ** Bishop Stanisław Stefanek, S. Chr. (1996.10.26 – 2011.11.11) ** Archbishop Juliusz Paetz (1982.12.20 – 1996.04.11) ** Bishop Mikołaj Sasinowski (1970.03.19 – 1982.09.06) ** Bishop Czesław Falkowski (1949.02.24 – 1969.08.25) ** Bishop Stanisław Kostka Łukomski (1926.06.24 – 1948.10.28) ** Archbishop Romuald Jałbrzykowski (1925.12.14 – 1926.06.24) ** Bishop Antoni Karaś (1910.04.07 – 1926.04.05) * Bishops of Sejny (Roman rite) ** Bishop Antoni Baranowski (1897.07.21 – 1902.11.26) ** Bishop Piotr Paweł Wierzbowski (1872.02.23 – 1893.07.01) ** Bishop Konstanty Ireneusz Łubieński (1863.12.20 - 1869.06.16) ** Bishop Paweł Straszyński (1836.11.21 – 1847.07.21) ** Bishop Mikołaj Jan Manugiewicz (1825.12.19 – 1834.06.25) ** Bishop Ignacy Stanisław Czyżewski (1820.05.29 – 1823.12.11) ** Bishop Jan Klemens Gołaszewski (1818.06.30 – 1820.03.08)

Notes

References

GCatholic.org

Diocese website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lomza

Dioceses 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 ...

Roman Catholic dioceses in Poland Religious organizations established in 1798