The Bishop of Dresden-Meissen is the ordinary of the

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 let ...

Diocese of Dresden-Meissen in the Archdiocese of Berlin. The diocese covers an area of and was erected as the Diocese of Meissen on 24 June 1921. The name was changed to Dresden-Meissen on 15 November 1979.

Bishops and administrators of Meissen (968–1581)

The Bishops resided until 1595 in Wurzen. In 1559 the diocesan temporalities within Saxony were seized by the

Electorate of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony (German: or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356–1806. It was centered around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. In the Golden Bull of 1356, Emperor Charle ...

Apostolic prefects of Meissen (1567–1921)

In the Meisen diocesan area located outside of then Saxony in Lower and

Upper Lusatia Upper Lusatia (german: Oberlausitz ; hsb, Hornja Łužica ; dsb, Górna Łužyca; szl, Gōrnŏ Łużyca; pl, Łużyce Górne or ''Milsko''; cz, Horní Lužice) is a historical region in Germany and Poland. Along with Lower Lusatia to t ...

there was no immediate overlord, since the then

liege lord Homage (from Medieval Latin , lit. "pertaining to a man") in the Middle Ages was the ceremony in which a feudal tenant or vassal pledged reverence and submission to his feudal lord, receiving in exchange the symbolic title to his new position (inv ...

of the Two Lusatias, the Catholic king of Bohemia (in personal union Holy Roman Emperor) held the Lusatias as fief outright. The Kings of Bohemia did not effectively offend the spreading of the Protestant Reformation in the Two Lusatias. So it depended on the local

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerai ...

s if Lutheranism prevailed or not, following the principle of

Cuius regio, eius religio () is a Latin phrase which literally means "whose realm, their religion" – meaning that the religion of the ruler was to dictate the religion of those ruled. This legal principle marked a major development in the collective (if not individual ...

. The Two Lusatias thus became an area of regionally altering predominant denomination. In 1560 Meissen's last bishop John IX had appointed Johannes Leisentritt as diocesan administrator for the Lusatian part of the diocese, seated in Bautzen. After the Holy See had recognised as a matter of fact the suppression of the Meissen diocese within Saxony it converted its Lusatian part into an apostolic prefecture ( Apostolic Prefecture of Meissen) in 1567 with administrator Leisentrit elevated to prefect. In canon law an apostolic prefecture is a diocese on approval. According to its seat or its area comprised the prefecture was alternatively also called ''Apostolic Prefecture of Bautzen'' or ''Apostolic Prefecture of the Two Lusatias'', respectively. When in 1635 the Lutheran

annexed the Two Lusatias it guaranteed in the cession contract (''Traditionsrezess'') with Bohemia to leave the existing religious relations untouched. As a signatory of the

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (german: Westfälischer Friede, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought pe ...

of 1648 Saxony later agreed to maintain the religious status quo as given in the reference year of 1624 in all its territories acquired since.Georges Hellinghausen, ''Kampf um die Apostolischen Vikare des Nordens J. Th. Laurent und C. A. Lüpke: der Hl. Stuhl und die protestantischen Staaten Norddeutschlands und Dänemark um 1840'', Rome: Editrice Pontificia Università Gregoriana, 1987, (=Miscellanea historiae Pontificiae; vol. 53), pp. 15seq. . After the Prussian annexation of Lower Lusatia and easterly Upper Lusatia in 1815 the Holy See disentangled the newly Prussian diocesan area and incorporated it into the Prussian diocese of Breslau in 1821. The remaining diocese, officially always called Apostolic Prefecture of Meissen, was thus also called the ''Apostolic Prefecture of (Saxon) Upper Lusatia''. The office of the apostolic prefect was held in personal union by the cathedral dean of Bautzen Cathedral. In the 19th century the episcopal function of the apostolic prefects was further emphasised by appointing them simultaneously with

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

Bishops of Meissen (and Dresden-Meissen as of 1980; 1921–present)

(Dates in italics indicate ''de facto ''continuation of office)

Bishops and administrators of Meissen (968–1581)

Apostolic prefects of Meissen (1567–1921)

Bishops of Meissen (and Dresden-Meissen as of 1980; 1921–present)

Notes

See also