Roman Catholic Diocese of Liège

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Liège, Latin: "Dioecesis Leodiensis" is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in Belgium. The diocese was erected in the 4th century, and has a long and complicated history. Currently the diocese is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels, and is presently served by Bishop Alyosius Jousten, appointed in May of 2001.

History of the diocese

See: Prince-Bishopric of Liège

The original diocese survived until suppression under the Revolution, and confirmed in 1801 by a Concordat co-signed by Napoléon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII. The new diocese, erected 10 April, 1802, included the two " _fr. départements" of Ourte and Meuse-Inférieure, with certain parishes of the " _fr. département" des Forêts. In 1818, it lost a certain number of cantons, ceded to Prussia.

After the establishment of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands the diocese comprised the provinces of Liège and Limburg. On 6 May, 1838, Mgr Van Bommel divided the Province of Liège into two deaneries. In 1839, the diocese lost those parishes which were situated in Dutch Limburg. In 1967, the Dutch-speaking parishes of the diocese formed the newly erected Diocese of Hasselt. The present Diocese of Liège, suffragan to the Archdiocese of Mechlin–Brussels, consists of 525 parishes with 543 priests and has a population of 1,023,506 (as of 2003), the majority (Walloons) speaking French; the minority, German in the German-speaking Community of Belgium. The present territory of the diocese coincide with the Province of Liège.

Ordinaries

*Erhard (Erardo, Everard) von der Mark (de la Marca, Marck) † (25 Feb 1506 Appointed - 28 Mar 1520 Appointed, Archbishop of Valencia)
*Jorge de Austria † (16 Aug 1544 Succeeded - 4 May 1557 Died)
*Ernst Herzog von Bayern † (30 Jan 1581 Appointed - 17 Feb 1612 Died)
*Ferdinand Herzog von Bayern † (17 Feb 1612 Succeeded - 13 Sep 1650 Died)
*Max Heinrich Herzog von Bayern † (13 Sep 1650 Succeeded - 3 Jun 1688 Died)
*Jean Louis d'Elderen † (17 Aug 1688 Appointed - 1 Feb 1694 Died)
*Joseph Clemens von Bayern von Wittelsbach † (4 Apr 1694 Appointed - 11 Dec 1723 Died)
*Georges Louis de Berghes † (7 Feb 1724 Appointed - 5 Dec 1743 Died)
*Johann Theodor Herzog von Bayern † (23 Jan 1744 Appointed - 27 Jan 1763 Died)
*Charles Nicolas Alexandre d'Oultremont † (20 Apr 1763 Appointed - 22 Oct 1771 Died)
*Franz Karl Reichsgraf von Velbrück † (16 Jan 1772 Appointed - 30 Apr 1784 Died)
*César Constantin François de Hoensbroeck † (21 Jul 1784 Appointed - 4 Jun 1792 Died)
*François Antoine Marie Constantin de Méan et de Beaurieux † (16 Aug 1792 Appointed - 26 Nov 1801 Resigned)
*Jean-Evangéliste Zaepfell † (29 Apr 1802 Appointed - 17 Oct 1808 Died)
*Henri Henrard, O.F.M. Conv. † (17 Oct 1808 Appointed - 23 Sep 1814 Resigned)
*Cornelius Richard Antoon van Bommel † (15 Nov 1829 Ordained Bishop - 7 Apr 1852 Died)
*Théodore Alexis Joseph de Montpellier † (27 Sep 1852 Appointed - 26 Aug 1879 Died)
*Victor-Joseph Doutreloux † (26 Aug 1879 Succeeded - 20 Aug 1901 Died)
*Martin-Hubert Rutten † (16 Dec 1901 Appointed - 17 Jul 1927 Died)
*Louis-Joseph Kerkhofs † (17 Jul 1927 Succeeded - 7 Dec 1961 Retired)
*Guillaume Marie van Zuylen † (7 Dec 1961 Succeeded - 17 Mar 1986 Retired)
*Albert Jean Charles Ghislain Houssiau (17 Mar 1986 Appointed - 9 May 2001 Retired)
*Aloysius Jousten (9 May 2001 Appointed - )