The Diocese of Łomża () is a

Latin Church The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical ...

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, prov ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

located in the city of

Łomża Łomża () is a city in north-eastern Poland, approximately to the north-east of Warsaw and west of Białystok. It is situated alongside the Narew river as part of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the capital of Łomża County and has been the se ...

in the

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian churches, including those of both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, that have traditional hierarchical structures. An ecclesiastical province consist ...

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

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 The First Partition of Poland took place in 1772 as the first of three partitions that eventually ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The growth of power in the Russian Empire threatened the Kingdom of Prussia an ...

it fell to

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

Pope Pius VI Pope Pius VI (; born Count Angelo Onofrio Melchiorre Natale Giovanni Antonio called Giovanni Angelo or Giannangelo Braschi, 25 December 171729 August 1799) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1775 to hi ...

carved out the new diocese and established its see at the

Camaldolese The Camaldolese Hermits of Mount Corona () are a Catholic Church, Catholic monastic order of pontifical right for men founded by Romuald, St. Romuald. Its name is derived from the Holy Hermitage () in Camaldoli, high in the mountains of Tuscany, ...

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

Suwałki Suwałki (; ; or סוּוואַלק) 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. A relatively young ci ...

. The monastery had been founded under the patronage of the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania

Władysław II Jagiełło Jogaila (; 1 June 1434), later Władysław II Jagiełło (),Other names include (; ) (see also Names and titles of Władysław II Jagiełło) was Grand Duke of Lithuania beginning in 1377 and starting in 1386, becoming King of Poland as well. ...

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, Napol ...

this territory passed to the

Russian Partition The Russian Partition (), 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 Poland. The Russian ac ...

, and in 1818 the Church throughout the

Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of 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 was established w ...

was reorganized. By a Bull of Pius VII

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

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

Augustów Augustów is a town in north-eastern Poland. It lies on the Netta River and the Augustów Canal. It is the seat of Augustów County and of Gmina Augustów in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. Augustów has an area of , and as of June 2022 it has a popul ...

, a town founded in 1561 by King

Sigismund II Augustus Sigismund II Augustus (, ; 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 of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and t ...

. 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, a town founded in 1522 by

Sigismund I the Old Sigismund I the Old (, ; 1 January 1467 – 1 April 1548) was List of Polish monarchs, 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 son of Casimir IV of P ...

, 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 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, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

was succeeded by Bishop Wierzbowski. His successors were Antanas Baranauskas and Antoni Karaś. On October 28, 1925, the diocese was renamed as the diocese of Łomża, then suffragan of the

Archdiocese of Vilnius 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 associated ...

(until 1991). Wikisource:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Diocese of Sejny

Leadership

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

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 Antanas Karosas (1910.04.07 – 1926.04.05) * Bishops of Sejny (Roman rite) ** Bishop Antanas Baranauskas (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 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, prov ...

Roman Catholic dioceses in Poland Religious organizations established in 1798

History

Leadership

See also

Notes

References