The Roman Catholic Diocese of Siret was a Latin bishopric in medieval
Moldavia
Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and for ...
.
Antecedents
Since the 13th century, missionaries of the
mendicant orders, Franciscans and Dominicans, created several Latin Catholic communities in present Romania, for whom the Holy See decided to created bishoprics, south and east of the Carpathians (in Walachia and Moldavia), generally short-lived, like the Diocese of Siret / Seret / Cereten(sis) (Latin adjective), established in 1371.
Catholicism was on the rise among the traditionally Orthodox population due to the political late 14th century context, as the Ottoman advance, nearly encircling the imperial capital Constantinople (conquering (H)Adrianopolis, now Edirne, in 1360), the
Byzantine emperor
This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, to Fall of Constantinople, its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. On ...
s sought a political and hopefully military ally in the Catholic west, which had crusaded against Islam to and in the Middle East before.
Similarly in Moldavia, where
Bogdan I obtained virtual independence in 1359 as founding ''
voivode
Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the ...
'' (autonomous prince), seeking aid and protection from
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
, welcomed Latin missionaries, Franciscan
Friars Minor
The Order of Friars Minor (also called the Franciscans, the Franciscan Order, or the Seraphic Order; postnominal abbreviation OFM) is a mendicant Catholic religious order, founded in 1209 by Francis of Assisi. The order adheres to the teachi ...
(founding a monastery at Siret in 1340) and
Dominicans.
History
Bogdan's son and indirect successor
Lațcu of Moldavia
Lațcu was Voivode of Moldavia from c. 1367 to c. 1375. He converted to the Roman Catholic faith and attempted to strengthen his realm's autonomy by establishing a Roman Catholic diocese directly subordinated to the Holy See. However, he see ...
(1365-1373) invited a delegation from Rome, promising his and the people's conversion to Catholicism and asked
Pope Urban V
Pope Urban V ( la, Urbanus V; 1310 – 19 December 1370), born Guillaume de Grimoard, was the head of the Catholic Church from 28 September 1362 until his death in December 1370 and was also a member of the Order of Saint Benedict. He was the ...
to send missionaries and erect a Latin diocese in his principality's capital, Siret. On 24 July 1370 the Pope instructed the archbishop of Prague and bishops of
Bratislava and
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
to verify/complete the sincerity of Laţcu (although his wife remained Orthodox) and mandated them to erect such diocese covering the Moldavian state. Pope
Gregory XI established it in 1371, exempt (i.e. directly subject to 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 R ...
); Polish Franciscan
Andrzej Jastrzębiec was consecrated first Bishop by archbishop
Florian Mokrski
Florian Mokrski Jelita coat of arms, (Jelita Coat of arms) was born around 1305 and died on February 6, 1380 in Kraków) and the son of Piotr Mokrski, Peter Mokrski. Florian was a Polish Roman Catholic priest who served as the Archbishop of Krakó ...
of Kraków. The cathedral, dedicated to
John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
, was built by queen Margareth, Catholic kin of the Hungarian royal family, which in 1377 had invited Dominicans to Siret.
However prince Laţcu favoring of Catholicism met grave opposition from the Orthodox clergy, while effective Latin converts were concentrated in the north of Moldavia, near Catholic neighbour kingdoms of
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
and
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
. Since 1372, when Andrzej was nominated
Apostolic administrator
An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic adm ...
of the
Archdiocese of Halyč, probably never returning to Siret, he and his (all Polish) successors resided more in Poland then in Moldavia. In 1388 prince
Petru (Peter) II "Muşat" (1375–1391) transferred the Moldavian voivode's capital from Siret to
Suceava
Suceava () is the largest urban settlement and the seat town ( ro, oraș reședință de județ) of Suceava County, situated in the historical region of Bukovina, northeastern Romania, and at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe. Klaus Pet ...
, thus contributing to the crisis in the diocese of Siret, now abandoned by both crown and episcopate.
;''Exempt Bishops of Siret''
(all
Roman Rite)
*
Andrzej Jastrzębiec,
Friars Minor
The Order of Friars Minor (also called the Franciscans, the Franciscan Order, or the Seraphic Order; postnominal abbreviation OFM) is a mendicant Catholic religious order, founded in 1209 by Francis of Assisi. The order adheres to the teachi ...
(O.F.M.) (1371.05.09 – 1388.03.12), next Bishop of
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...
(
Lithuania) (1388.03.12 – death 1398.11.14)
* Jan I Sartorius (1388 – death 1394)
* Stefan Martini,
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of ...
(O.P.) (1394.06.08 – death 1412.01.10), reminded by the Pope he could not celebrate pontifical masses outside his diocese, but in 1396 nominated
Auxiliary bishop of
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
, maintaining his title as Ordinary of Siret.
At the 1412 erection of the Latin Metropolitan
Archbishopric of Lwów in Poland (now in
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
), Siret became its
suffragan (no longer exempt).
;''Suffragan Bishops of Siret''
* In 1413, due to the
Western Schism
The Western Schism, also known as the Papal Schism, the Vatican Standoff, the Great Occidental Schism, or the Schism of 1378 (), was a split within the Catholic Church lasting from 1378 to 1417 in which bishops residing in Rome and Avignon b ...
('Babylonian exile' of
Antipopes in
Avignon, 1378 to 1417), two rival bishops were appointed:
** Mikołaj (Nicholas) Venatoris,
Augustinians (O.E.S.A.) (1413.03.05 – ?1434)
**
'uncanonical?''Tomasz Grueber (1413.07.31 – ?)
* Jan II (1420.09.04 – 1422?) - according to a Vatican archive document found by Eubel, who doubts its authenticity
* Jan III, O.F.M. (1434.01.29 – ?).
The diocese of Siret was effectively suppressed, but from circa 1418, the Holy See erected another Moldavian bishopric, the
Diocese of Baia, which inherited its territory (1434?).
See also
*
List of Catholic dioceses in Romania
Unlike most European countries, the Catholic Church in Romania comprises in a single national episcopal conference both Latin and two Eastern Catholic churches (one of which being nation-specific):
* A Latin hierarchy
** one ecclesiastical provinc ...
Sources and external links
*
Siret Town Hall official site*
Catholic - former Latin Catholic bishopric*
Siret unofficial site*
Suceava County site - Siret web page*
Photo Gallery - Old photos of Siret; Bibliography
* Konrad Eubel, ''Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi'', vol. 1, p. 182; vol. 2, p. 125
* Emil Dumea, ''Il cattolicesimo nella Moldavia-Romania nel XVIII secolo'', doctoiral dissertation, Rome 1997, pp. 52–55
* Emil Dumea, ''Istoria Bisericii Catolice din Moldova'', Iași 2005, pp. 32–39
* E. Jean, lemma 'Ceretum', in ''Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastiques'', vol. XII, Paris 1953, coll. 165-169
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siret, Roman Catholic Diocese
Former Roman Catholic dioceses in Europe
Religious organizations established in the 1370s
Roman Catholic dioceses established in the 14th century
Religious organizations disestablished in the 16th century
Suppressed Roman Catholic dioceses
Poles in Romania