THE CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA
D
Diocese (Lat. dio'cesis), the territory or churches
subject to the jurisdiction of a bishop (q. v.).
I. Origin of Term. — Originally the term diocese (Gr. SioU-Tjo-is) signified management of a household, thence administration or government in general. This term was soon used in Roman law to designate the ter- ritory dependent for its administration upon a city (civitas). What in Latin was called ager, or terriiorium, namely a district subject to a city, was habitually known in the Roman East as a dincesis. But as the Christian bishop generally resided in a ciritas, the ter- ritory administered by him, being usuallj' contermi- nous with the juridical territory of the city, came to be known ecclesiastically by its usual civil terra, diocese. This name was also given to the administrative sub- division of some provinces ruled by legates (legoti) under the authority of the governor of the province. Finally, Diocletian designated by this name the twelve great divisions which he established in the empire, and over each of which he placed a incarius (Pauly-Wis- sowa, Real-Encyclopadie der classischen Altertums- wissenschaft, Stuttgart, 190.3, V, 1, 71G sqq.). The original term for local groups of the faithful subject to a bishop was iKK\-n(rla (church), and at a later date, irapoiKia, i. e. the neighbourhood (Lat. paraecia, pa- rochia). The Apostolic Canons (xiv, xv), and the Council of Nicsa in 325 (can. xvi) applied this latter term to the territory subject to a bishop. This term was retained in the East, where the Council of Con- stantinople (381) reserved the word diocese for the ter- ritory subject to a patriarch (can. ii). In the ^ye.st also parochia was long used to designate an episcopal see. About 850 Leo IV, and about 1095 L'rban II, still employed parochia to denote the territorj' subject to the jurisdiction of a bishop. Alexander III (1159- 1181) designated under the name of parochiani the subjects of a bishop (c. 4, C. X, qu. 1; c. 10, C. IX, qu. 2; c. 9, X, De testibus, II, 20). On the other hand, the present meaning of the word diocese is met with in Africa at the end of the fourth century (cc. 50, 51, C. XVI, qu. 1), and afterwards in Spain, where the term parochia, occurring in the ninth canon of the Council of Antioch, held in 341, was translated by "diocese" (c. 2, C. IX, qu. 3). See also the ninth canon of the Synod of Toledo, in 589 (Hefele, ad h. an. and c. 6, C. X, qu. 3). This usage finally became gen- eral in the West, though diocese was sometimes used to indicate parishes in the present sense of the word (see Parish). In Gaul, the words terminus, territori- um, civitas, pagus, are also met with.
II. Historical Origin. — It is impossible to deter- mine what rules were followed at the origin of the Church in limiting the territory over which each bishop exercised his authority. Universality of eccle- siastical jurisdiction was a personal prerogative of the Apostles; their successors, the bishops, enjoyed only a jurisdiction limited to a certain territory: thus Igna- tius was Bishop of Antioch, and Polycarp, of Smyrna.
v.— 1
The first Christian communities, quite like the Jewish,
were established in towns. The converts who lived
in the neighbourhood naturally joined with the com-
munity of the town for the celebration of the Sacred
Mysteries. Exact limitations of episcopal territory
could not have engrossed much attention at the begin-
ning of Christianity ; it would have been quite impracti-
cable. .\s a matter of fact, the extent of the diocese
was determined by the domain itself over which
the bishop exercised his influence. It seems certain,
on the other hand, that, in the East at any rate, by the
middle of the third century each Christian community
of any importance had become the residence of a bishop
and constituted a diocese. There were bishops in
the country districts as well as in the towns. The
chorepiscopi (iv X"P? iwia-KOToi), or rural bishops,
were bishops, it is generally thought, as well as those
of the towns; though from about the second half of the
third century their powers were little by little cur-
tailed, and they were made dependent on the bishops
of the towns. To this rule Egj-pt was an exception;
Alexandria was for a long time the only see in Egj-pt.
The numljer of Egyptian dioceses, however, multi-
plied rapidly during the third century, so that in 320
there were about a hundred bishops present at the
Council of Alexandria. The number of dioceses was
also quite large in some parts of the Western Church,
i. e. in Southern Italy and in Africa. In other regions
of Europe, either Christianity had as yet a small num-
ber of adherents, or the bishops reserved to themselves
supreme authority over extensive districts. Thus, in
this early period but few dioceses existed in Northern
Italy, Gaul, Germany, Britain, and Spain. In the
last, however, their number increased rapidly dur-
ing the third century. The increase of the faithful
in small towns and country districts soon made it
necessary to determine exactly the limits of the terri-
tory of each church. The cities of the empire, with
their clearly defined suburban districts, offered hmits
that were easily acceptable. From the fourth century
on it was generally admitted that everj' city ought to
have its bishop, and that his territory was bounded by
that of the neighbouring city. This rule was strin-
gently applied in the East. Although Innocent I
declared in 415 that the Church was not bound to con-
form itself to all the civil divisions which the imperial
government chose to introduce, the Council of Chalce-
don ordered (451) that if a civitas were dismembered
by imperial authority, the ecclesiastical organization
ought also to be modified (can. xvii). In the West, the
Council of Sardica (344) forbade in its sixth canon the
establishment of dioceses in towns not populous enough
to render desirable their elevation to the dignity of
episcopal residences. .\t the same time many Western
sees included the territories of several civitates.
From the fourth century we have documentary evi- dence of the manner in which the dioceses were cre- ated. According to the Council of Sardica (can. vi),
