Bavarian ecclesiastical province
Theodo, Duke of Bavaria
(~ 680 – 717) was the first to put the Bavarian church in order. So in 715 /
716 he went to Rome to ask Pope Gregor II. to establish a Bavarian
ecclesiastical province which should be directly dependent of Rome. The journey resulted
in a detailed plan (on 15 may 716) which said that the Episcopal seas should
be fitted to the four partial dukedoms (probable Regensburg, Salzburg, Passau and Freising). The intention of this bishopric organization probably
was to strengthen the ecclesiastical and political independence of the Frankenreich
and it should be a bulwark against the increase of power of the Carolingians.
Because of his sudden death, Theodo wasn’t able to realize
his project, but it was put into place by Bonifatius 23 years later.
The plan constitutes the basis of Bavaria’s connection with
Rome which strongly influenced the
later organization of Bavaria’s church.
The final
canonical establishment of the Bavarian ecclesiastical province with the bishoprics
Regensburg, Salzburg, Passau and Freising took place in 739 under the Anglo-Saxon missionary
and legate Bonifatius, in cooperation
with Bavarian duke Odilo. The plan of 716
was the basis for this. Only 50 years later, Salzburg was elevated to
an archbishopric. Bonifatius replaced three bishops
because he wasn’t convinced of their legitimacy, but he left Vivilo, Bishop of Passau,
who had already been ordained by Pope Gregor III many
years before Bonifatius’ organization of the bishoprics.
- Romuald Bauerreiss,
Kirchengeschichte Bayerns (St. Ottilien 1974), S. 54
– 63
- Egon Boshof (Hg.),
Geschichte der Stadt Passau (Regensburg 1999), S. 63 - 70
- Karl Bosl, Bayerische
Geschichte (München 1990), S. 49 – 57
- Walter Brandmüller
(Hg.), Handbuch der Bayerischen Kirchengeschichte, Band I
- Von den Anfängen bis zur Schwelle der Neuzeit (St.
Ottilien 1998), S. 36 – 45
- P. Fried, Bayern
– Mission und frühe Kirchengeschichte, in Lexikon
des Mittelalters, Band I (München 1980), S. 1698 - 1704
- Max Heuwieser,
Geschichte des Bistums Passau, Band 1 - Die
Frühgeschichte: Von der Gründung bis zum Ende der
Karolingerzeit (Passau 1939), S. 97 – 113, S. 192
edited by: Michael Muhsal
translation by: Kathrin Scheuer
(3.8.2004/13.5.2005)
