Roman Catholic Diocese of Vác

The Roman Catholic diocese of Vác, (Latin: Dioecesis Vaciensis) is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in Hungary. The diocese was created in 1008 by St. Stephen, the first King of Hungary. Originally known as the diocese of Waitzen in German, it is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Eger. The current bishop is Miklós Beer who was appointed in 2003.

History

Its first bishops were Clement, Lazarus, and Aaron. Lazarus is believed to have been bishop from 1075–77; Stephen was known to have been bishop in 1102. Beginning with Marcellus (1105–19), the series of bishops is uninterrupted. Particularly notable early bishops of Waitzen include: Johannes de Surdis (1363–73), ambassador of King Louis I to Italy in 1369, later on Archbishop of Gran; Vincent Szilassy (1450–73), a member of the embassy which brought the newly-elected King Matthias Corvinus from Prague to Waitzen; Wladislaw Szalkai (1514–23), chancellor of King Louis II and afterwards Archbishop of Gran; Martinus Pethe (1582–86), transferred to Kalocsa.

Later important bishops include Sigismund Kolonits (1709–16), transferred to Vienna, and first Archbishop of Vienna; Count Michael Althann (1718–34), sent as viceroy to Sicily by Emperor Charles VI, and afterwards cardinal; Count Christopher Migazzi, cardinal and Archbishop of Vienna, twice Bishop of Waitzen (1756–57); 1762–82); Augustinus Roskoványi (1851–59), an eminent theological writer, transferred to Neutra in 1859. Roskoványi was succeeded by Anthony Peitler, 1859–85, who founded the library at Waitzen. In 1900 Count Charles Csaky became bishop.

In 1514, when the Ottoman Turks conquered Waitzen, the cathedral chapter ceased to exist, but was re-established in 1700.

In the early 20th century, the diocese included parts of the counties of Nograd, Pesth, Csongrád and Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, divided into three archdeaconries and nineteen vice-archdeaconries. Within the diocese were five titular abbeys, four provostships and six titular provostships. The chapter had twelve canons and six titular canons. The number of parishes iwas 123; that of the clergy, 266. The right of patronage was exercised by 44 patrons. The diocese included 7 monasteries and 12 nunneries, with altogether 232 inmates. The Catholic population was 757,827.

Ordinaries

• Štefan Szuhay † ( 1595 Ordained Bishop - 1600 Appointed, Bishop of Eger)
• Matej Tarnoczy † ( 1651 Appointed - 7 Aug 1655 Died)
• Ján Gubasóczy † ( 1676 Appointed - 1679 Appointed, Bishop of Nitra)
• Sigismund Graf Kollonitsch † (14 Oct 1709 Appointed - 1 Jul 1716 Appointed, Bishop of Wien)
• Wilhelm Graf vonLeslie † (6 Apr 1716 Appointed - 5 Jan 1718 Appointed, Bishop of Ljubljana)
• Christoph Bartholomäus Anton Graf Migazzi † (28 Aug 1756 Appointed - 15 Mar 1757 Appointed, Archbishop of Wien {Vienna})
• Karl Ambrose Ferdinand von Habsburg † (17 Nov 1806 Appointed - 16 Mar 1808 Appointed, Archbishop of Esztergom)
• László Kámánházy † (11 Jul 1808 Appointed - 4 Feb 1817 Died)
• Agostino Roskovanyi † (5 Sep 1851 Appointed - 15 Apr 1859 Appointed, Bishop of Nitra)
• Antonio Giuseppe Peitler † (15 Apr 1859 Appointed - )
• Konštantín Schuster † ( 1886 Appointed - 23 Jul 1899 Died)
• Károly Emmánuel de Csáky † (19 Apr 1900 Appointed - 16 Feb 1919 Died)
• Árpád István Hanauer † (9 Sep 1919 Appointed - 1942 Died)
• Jozsef Pétery † (24 Sep 1942 Appointed - 15 Nov 1967 Died)
• József Bánk † (10 Jan 1969 Appointed - 2 Feb 1974 Appointed, Archbishop of Eger)
• Mihály Endrey-Eipel † (7 Jan 1975 Appointed - 4 Jul 1977 Died)
• József Bánk † (2 Mar 1978 Appointed - 3 Mar 1987 Retired)
• Izidor István Marosi † (3 Mar 1987 Appointed - 11 Feb 1992 Retired)
• Ferenc Keszthelyi †, O. Cist. (11 Feb 1992 Appointed - 27 Mar 2003 Retired)
• Miklós Beer (27 May 2003 Appointed - )

Source

• Waitzen - Catholic Encyclopedia article
• http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dvach.html

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.