The Diocese of Leicester is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

diocese based in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

and including the current county of

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire ...

. The cathedral is

Leicester Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Martin, Leicester, commonly known as Leicester Cathedral, is a Church of England cathedral in Leicester, England and the seat of the Bishop of Leicester. The church was elevated to a collegiate church in 192 ...

, where the

Bishop of Leicester The Bishop of Leicester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Leicester in the Province of Canterbury. Through reorganisation within the Church of England, the Diocese of Leicester was refounded in 1927, and St Martin's Church ...

has his episcopal chair. The diocese is divided into two archdeaconries, the Archdeaconry of Leicester in the east of the county and the Archdeaconry of Loughborough in the west. The former is divided into the rural deaneries of City of Leicester; Framland (Melton Mowbray); Gartree First and Second; and

Goscote Goscote was a wapentake in the county of Leicestershire, England; consisting of the north and north-west of the county. It was recorded in the Domesday Book, but as the wapentakes evolved to form hundreds, was split into East Goscote Hundred ...

. The latter is divided into the rural deaneries of Akeley East, South and West;

Guthlaxton Guthlaxton is an ancient hundred of Leicestershire. Its jurisdiction was in the south of the county, and covered Lutterworth and Wigston Magna. At the time of the Domesday Book, it was one of Leicestershire's four wapentakes, and covered a much l ...

; and

Sparkenhoe Sparkenhoe was a hundred of Leicestershire, England in the south-west of the county, covering Market Bosworth and Hinckley, broadly corresponding to the modern districts of Blaby and Hinckley and Bosworth. The meeting place of the Sparkenhoe Hundr ...

East and West. The diocese owns a retreat house at

Launde Abbey Launde Abbey is located in Leicestershire, England, 14 miles east of the city of Leicester and six miles south west of Oakham, Rutland. The building is used as a conference and retreat centre by the Church of England dioceses of Leicester and Pet ...

near

East Norton East Norton is a small village and parish located in the east of Leicestershire, adjoining the A47 Leicester to Uppingham road. According to the 2001 Census, it had a population of 94 in 37 households. The population remained less than 100 at t ...

History

The

Middle Angles The Middle Angles were an important ethnic or cultural group within the larger kingdom of Mercia in England in the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon period. Origins and territory It is likely that Angles broke into the English Midlands, Midlands from ...

first had a bishopric in 680 and the Anglo-Saxon cathedral was probably located close to (if not on the site of) the present cathedral. The original diocese fell victim to the invasion by the Danes around 870 and after the establishment of the

Danelaw The Danelaw (, also known as the Danelagh; ang, Dena lagu; da, Danelagen) was the part of England in which the laws of the Danes held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. The Danelaw contrasts with the West Saxon law and the Mercian ...

in 886 the diocese's seat was moved to Dorchester in Oxfordshire and, taking over the existing

Diocese of Lindine The Bishop of Lindsey was a prelate who administered an Anglo-Saxon diocese between the 7th and 11th centuries. The episcopal title took its name after the ancient Kingdom of Lindsey. History The diocese of Lindsey (Lindine) was established when ...

(created in 678), became the Diocese of Dorchester. From Dorchester, Oxfordshire, the see was later moved to Lincoln in 1072 under King William I, the diocese then becoming the

Diocese of Lincoln The Diocese of Lincoln forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire. History The diocese traces its roots in an unbroken line to the Pre-Reformation Diocese of Leic ...

. Henry VIII divided the larger dioceses at the time of the

English Reformation The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...

and the Diocese of Lincoln was divided in three. In 1539 a new cathedral ''was'' being erected, but it was never completed and Peterborough was chosen as the seat of the new diocese and

Peterborough Abbey Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew – also known as Saint Peter's Cathedral in the United Kingdom – is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Peterborough, dedicated to Saint Peter, Saint Pau ...

as the cathedral. In the 19th century there were suffragan bishops of Leicester whilst the bishopric was still within the Diocese of Peterborough. The modern diocese was founded on 12 November 1926 from the archdeaconries of Leicester and

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second large ...

and part of the Archdeaconry of Northampton, all from the Diocese of Peterborough. St Martin's Church, Leicester, was elevated as the cathedral of the new see. Leicestershire was included in the new Diocese of Peterborough in the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwa ...

reforms, the archdeaconry of Leicester became part of Peterborough diocese on 1 May 1839 and, on 12 November 1926, the modern Diocese of Leicester was founded from Leicester and Loughborough archdeaconries and part of the archdeaconry of Northampton.

Bishops

The diocesan

is assisted by the Bishop of Loughborough (the sole suffragan bishop, Saju Muthalaly). Alternative episcopal oversight (for parishes in the diocese which reject the ministry of priests who are women) is provided by the

provincial episcopal visitor A provincial episcopal visitor (PEV), popularly known as a flying bishop, is a Church of England bishop assigned to minister to many of the clergy, laity and parishes who on grounds of theological conviction, "are unable to receive the ministry of ...

, Norman Banks, Bishop suffragan of Richborough, who is licensed as an honorary assistant bishop of the diocese. There are currently two retired bishops living in the diocese who are licensed as

honorary assistant bishop An assistant bishop in the Anglican Communion is a bishop appointed to assist a diocesan bishop. Church of England In the established Church of England, assistant bishops are usually retired (diocesan or suffragan) bishops – in which case they ...

Christopher Boyle Christopher John Boyle (born 8 November 1951) is a retired Anglican bishop. He was Bishop of Northern Malawi in the Church of the Province of Central Africa (2001–2009) and the last Assistant Bishop of Leicester in the Church of England (20 ...

, former

Assistant Bishop of Leicester The Bishop of Leicester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Leicester in the Province of Canterbury. Through reorganisation within the Church of England, the Diocese of Leicester was refounded in 1927, and St Martin's Church ...

, and Peter Fox, former Bishop of Port Moresby.

Notes

References

Church of England Statistics 2002

External links

Diocesan websiteDiocese of Leicester website, list of parish church websites
{{authority control

Religion in Leicestershire

History

Bishops

See also

Notes

References

External links