Roman Catholic Diocese of Balecium


The Roman Catholic Diocese of Balecium or of Balecio/Balezo or of Baleč is a former Latin Rite bishopric and present titular see of the Catholic Church in Albania. The town that was its seat was destroyed in 1356 by the Serbian kingdom of Rascia.

History

Circa 1300 was established a Diocese of Balecium alias Balezo.
At the beginning of the 14th century, Baleč was the see of a small Catholic diocese. In 1356, Bishop Andreas Citer complained that his bishopric was full of schismatics. The diocese had been laid waste and impoverished by Serbian "schismatics of the kingdom of Rascia", who had completely destroyed the monastery situated 5000 paces from the cathedral. In response, Pope Innocent VI granted him in commendam, on 26 September of the same year, the Benedictine monastery of St. John in Drivast. At this time Baleč must have ceased to exist as a town, so that, although bishops continued to be appointed to the see, by 1448, when even the fortress rebuilt by Skanderbeg was destroyed, the town was no more than a memory.
In the late 15th century the bishopric was formally suppressed after its see had been utterly destroyed.

Residential suffragan bishops

The bishopric of Balecium, no longer a residential see, is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see since it was nominally restored as Latin titular bishopric under the names Balecium or Balecio.
It has had the following incumbents, so far of the fitting episcopal rank :
  1. Johannes Theodor Suhr, Benedictine Order as last Apostolic Vicar of Denmark ; later promoted first Bishop of København , emeritate as Titular Bishop of Apisa maius, died 1979; previously Prior of Abbey of St. Jerome for the Revision and Emendation of the Vulgate
  2. Agostino Baroni, Comboni Missionaries as last Apostolic Vicar of Khartoum ; later promoted first Metropolitan Archbishop of Khartoum , Apostolic Administrator of Rumbek , died 2001
  3. Amaury Castanho as Auxiliary Bishop of Diocese of Sorocaba , Bishop of Valença , Coadjutor Bishop of Jundiaí succeeding as Bishop of Jundiaí ; died 2006
  4. Claude Feidt as Auxiliary Bishop of Archdiocese of Chambéry–Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne–Tarentaise ; later promoted Coadjutor Archbishop of Chambéry–Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne–Tarentaise, succeeding as Metropolitan Archbishop of Chambéry–Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne–Tarentaise, next last Metropolitan Archbishop of Aix , see demoted Archbishop of Aix
  5. Peter Kang U-il as Auxiliary Bishop of Archdiocese of Seoul 서울 ; later Bishop of Jeju 제주 , President of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea
  6. Franz Lackner, Friars Minor as Auxiliary Bishop of Diocese of Graz–Seckau ; later Metropolitan Archbishop of Salzburg
  7. Herwig Gössl, Auxiliary Bishop of Bamberg, no previous prelature.