Titular see of Bethlehem

"Bishop of Bethlehem" redirects here. For modern bishops and dioceses of this name in the USA and South Africa, see Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem and Roman Catholic Diocese of Bethlehem.

The See or Diocese of Bethlehem was a diocese in the Roman Catholic Church during the Crusades and is now a titular see. It was associated with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nevers.

History

In Bethlehem

In 1099 Bethlehem was captured in the First Crusade. A new monastery and cloister were built by the Augustinians to the north of the Church of the Nativity, with a tower to the south and an episcopal palace to the west. The Orthodox clergy (the Christian presence in the area had until then been Greek Orthodox) were ejected and replaced by Catholic clergy. On his birthday in 1100, Baldwin was crowned King of Jerusalem in Bethlehem - that same year, at Baldwin's request, Pope Paschal II promoted Bethlehem (never before an episcopal see) into a bishopric in the Catholic church^[1]. Right from its creation, the see was submitted to the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem^[2]. In 1187 Saladin reconquered Bethlehem and the Catholic clergy were forced to let the Greek Orthodox clergy return. Saladin himself in 1192 allowed two Catholic priests and two deacons to return to the diocese, though Bethlehem's economy still suffered from the drastic reduction in pilgrims from Europe^[1].

In 1229 Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Nazareth and Sidon briefly returned to the Kingdom of Jerusalem under a treaty between Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor and the Ayyubid sultan Al-Kamil, in exchange for a ten year truce between the Ayyubids and the Crusaders. That treaty expired in 1239 and Bethlehem was then reconquered by the Muslims in 1244^[3]. In 1250, with the Mameluks' rise to power, tolerance for Christians in Palestine declined - the Catholic clergy left Bethlehem, whose walls were demolished in 1263. They then returned to Bethlehem in the 14th century and settled in the monastery adjacent to the Church of the Nativity. The Greek Orthodox in the meantime took over control of the Church of the Nativity and shared control of the Milk Grotto with the Catholics and the Armenians^[1].

In Burgundy

In 1168 the crusader William IV of Nevers had promised the bishopric of Bethlehem that if the city fell into Muslim hands he or his successors would welcome him to Clamecy in Burgundy. Though William IV had died by then, his will was enacted in 1223 when the bishop of Bethlehem moved to Clemency (William IV having bequeathed him the small town of Pantenor near Clemency and the hospital at Clamecy founded by his father William III in 1147), which remained the bishopric's seat in partibus infidelium until the French Revolution in 1789^[4].

In 1223, owing to the incursions of the Muslims in Palestine, the Bishop of Bethlehem settled at Clemecy, and exercised jurisdiction over the hospital and the faubourg of Pantenor; his successors were chosen by the counts, later by the dukes of Nevers, with the approval of the pope and the king. In 1413 Charles VI tried to obtain for the titular Bishops of Bethlehem the privileges enjoyed by the other bishops of the realm, but the French clergy were opposed to this and the titular of Bethlehem was always considered a bishop in partibus infidelium. The assembly of the clergy of France in 1635 granted the bishops of Bethlehem an annual pension. Christopher d'Authier of Sisgau, founder of the Missionary Priests of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament and celebrated for his sermons to the galley-slaves of Marseilles, was Bishop of Bethlehem 1651-63.

Titular

List of holders

Bishops

• Aschetino or Ansquitinus, † (1110 - after 1123)^[5]

• Anselmo or Anseau, † (before 1132 - after 1142)^[5]

• Giraldo, † (before 1147 - after 1152)^[5]

• Raul or Radolfo^[6] I, † (1155^[7] - died 1173)^[5]

• Alberto, † (before 1177 - after 1179)^[5]

• Piero, † (before 1204 - killed in 1205 at the battle of Adrianopolis)^[5]

• Tommaso, † (before 1207 - ...)^[5]

• Rainierio, † (before 1210 - 1233)^[7]

• Tommaso Agni da Lentini, O.P., † (1258 - 1263), in 1272 elected Patriarch of Jerusalem ^[7]

Titular bishops

Note

1. ^ ^{a b c} Bethlehem Municipality, ed. "History of Bethlehem". http://www.bethlehem-city.org/English/City/index.php. Retrieved 2008-01-22. 
2. ^ 391 Figliuolo Figliuolo p. 391 
3. ^ Paul Reed, 2000, p.206.
4. ^ L. de Sivry, Dictionnaire de Géographie Ecclesiastique, pagina 375, edizione del 1852. - Ecclesiastical archives of letters sent by the bishops in partibus infidelium of Bethlehem to the bishops of Auxerre.
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Cangepp. 784-793 Du Cange 2 pp. 784-793 
6. ^ 29 Tyerman Tyerman p. 29 
7. ^ ^{a b c} Sandolipp. 233-237 De Sandoli 1 pp. 233-237 

Bibliography

• (French) Charles D. Du Cange; Nicolas Rodolphe Taranne; Emmanuel Guillaume Rey, Les familles d'outre-mer, Paris, Imprimerie Impériale [1869], pp. 784–793
• Guy le Strange, Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500 Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund, 1890.
• (Italian)De Sandoli, Sabino (1974). Corpus Inscriptionum Crucesignatorum Terrae Sanctae. Pubblicazioni dello Studium Biblicum Franciscanum 21: 193 - 237
• Christopher Tyerman, England and the Crusades, 1095-1588, Chicago, University of Chicago Press [1988], 1996. ISBN 0226820130, 9780226820132
• (Italian) Bruno Figliuolo, Chiesa e feudalità nei principati latini d'Oriente durante i X-XII secolo in Chiesa e mondo feudale nei secoli X-XII: atti della dodicesima settimana internazionale di studio Mendola, 24-28 Agosto 1992, Vita e Pensiero, 1995. ISBN 9788834312414
• Paul Read Peirs, The Templars, Macmillan, 2000. ISBN 0312266588

External links

• Bethlehem in Catholic Encyclopedia.