The Bishop of Chur is the Ordinary

Ordinary

In those hierarchically organised churches of Western Christianity which have an ecclesiastical law system, an ordinary is an officer of the church who by reason of office has ordinary power to execute the church's laws...

 of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chur

Diocese of Chur

The Diocese of Chur comprises the Swiss Cantons of Graubünden , Schwyz, Glarus, Zurich, Nidwalden, Obwalden and Uri.-History:A Bishop of Chur is first mentioned in 451/ 452 when its Bishop Saint Asimo attended the Synod of Milan, but probably existed a century earlier...

, Grisons, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 (Latin: Dioecesis Curiensis).

History

A Bishop of Chur is first mentioned in 451/452 when Asinius attended the Synod of Milan

Synod of Milan

There are at least four synods that can be called Synod of Milan , all of which took place in Mediolanum .- Synod of 345 :...

, but probably existed a century earlier. According to local traditions, the first Bishop of Chur was St. Lucius

Lucius of Britain

Saint Lucius is a legendary 2nd-century King of the Britons traditionally credited with introducing Christianity into Britain. Lucius is first mentioned in a 6th-century version of the Liber Pontificalis, which says that he sent a letter to Pope Eleuterus asking to be made a Christian...

, a reputed King of Britain, who is said to have died a martyr at Chur about the year 176, and whose relics are preserved in the cathedral. In the 7th century it acquired several territories south to the Lake of Constance. The see was at first suffragan to the archbishop of Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

, but after the treaty of Verdun

Treaty of Verdun

The Treaty of Verdun was a treaty between the three surviving sons of Louis the Pious, the son and successor of Charlemagne, which divided the Carolingian Empire into three kingdoms...

 (843) it became suffragan to Mainz

Mainz

Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...

. In 958 emperor Otto I

Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor

Otto I the Great , son of Henry I the Fowler and Matilda of Ringelheim, was Duke of Saxony, King of Germany, King of Italy, and "the first of the Germans to be called the emperor of Italy" according to Arnulf of Milan...

 gave the bishopric to his vassal Hartpert, along which numerous privileges, including the control over the Septimer Pass

Septimer Pass

Septimer Pass is a high mountain pass in the canton of Graubünden in the Swiss Alps between the valleys of Bregaglia and Oberhalbstein ....

, at the time the main crossing point across the central Alps. These concession strengthened the bishopric's temporal power, and later it became a princedom within the Holy Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

.

At the time of the Hohenstaufen emperors (12th-early 13th centuries), the bishops of Chur sided for them, which for a period led to existence of two bishops at the same time, the other being named by the popes. In the 14th century bishop Siegfried von Gelnhausen acquired the imperial diocese of Chur from the Barons Von Vaz and represented emperor Henry VII

Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry VII was the King of Germany from 1308 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1312. He was the first emperor of the House of Luxembourg...

 in Italy.

In 1803 the see became immediately subject to the Holy See. Until 1997, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vaduz had been part of the diocese of Chur.

List of Bishops of Chur

Term	Bishop	Notes
452-455	Asinio
ca. 460	Pruritius
ca. 470	Claudian
ca. 485	Ursicinus I
ca. 495	Sidonius
ca. 520	Eddo
530-546	Valentinianus
548-?	Paulinus
ca. 590	Theodore
ca. 614	Victor I Victor I, Bishop of Chur Victor I was an 7th-century bishop of Chur, the first of the Victorid family which was to control the bishopric and the province of Rhaetia until the early ninth century.On 10 October 614 he signed the canons of the Fifth Council of Paris on church discipline...
?	Verendarius ?
?-681	Ruthard
681-696	Paschal
696?-712	Victor II Victor II, Bishop of Chur Victor II was an 8th-century bishop of Chur of the Victorid family which had controlled the bishopric and the province of Rhaetia since the early seventh century....
712-735	Vigilius
ca. 740	Adalbert
754-760	Ursicinus II
759-765	Tello Tello Tello was the Bishop of Chur from 758/759 until his death. He was the last member of the ecclesiastical dynasty of the Victorids to wield power in Rhaetia through his control of the bishopric...
773-800?	Constantius
800-820	Remigius
820-833	Victor III Victor III, Bishop of Chur Victor III was the Bishop of Chur from after 800 until his death. He was the last member of the Victorid family to hold the bishopric of Chur and the secular power in Rhaetia concurrently....
833-844	Verendarius
844-849	Gerbrach
849-879	Hesso
879-887	Rothar
887-914	Dietholf
914-949	Waldo I
949-968	Hartbert
969-995	Hiltibold
995-1002	Waldo II
1002–1026	Ulrich I
1026–1039	Hartmann I
1039–1070	Dietmar
1070–1078	Heinrich I
1079–1088	Norbert
1089–1095	Ulrich II von Tarasp
1095–1122	Guido
1122–1142	Konrad I von Biberegg
1142–1150	Konrad II von Tegerfelden Tegerfelden Tegerfelden is a municipality in the district of Zurzach in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland.-Geography:Tegerfelden has an area, , of . Of this area, or 51.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 37.0% is forested...
1150–1160	Adalgod Adalgott Saint Adalgott is the name of a twelfth-century monk, bishop and Roman Catholic saint. He entered Clairvaux as a monk, and was appointed as abbot of Disentis....
1160–1170	Egino von Ehrenfels
1170–1179	Ulrich III von Tegerfelden Tegerfelden Tegerfelden is a municipality in the district of Zurzach in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland.-Geography:Tegerfelden has an area, , of . Of this area, or 51.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 37.0% is forested...
1179–1180	Bruno von Ehrenfels
1180–1193	Heinrich II von Arbon
1194?-1200	Arnold I von Matsch
1200–1209	Rainier
1209	Walter von Tegerfelden Tegerfelden Tegerfelden is a municipality in the district of Zurzach in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland.-Geography:Tegerfelden has an area, , of . Of this area, or 51.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 37.0% is forested...
1209–1221	Arnold II von Matsch
1221–1222	Heinrich III von Realta and/or Albrecht von Güttingen, Abbot of St. Gall
1222–1226	Rudolf I von Güttingen
1226–1233	Berthold Graf von Helfenstein
1233–1237	Ulrich IV Graf von Kyburg House of Kyburg The House of Kyburg was family of Grafen or counts from Zürich in Switzerland. The family was one of the three most powerful noble families in the Swiss plateau beside the Habsburg and the House of Savoy during the 11th and 12th Centuries...
1237–1251	Volkhard von Neuenburg
1251–1272	Heinrich IV Graf von Montfort
1272–1282	Konrad III von Belmont
1282–1290	Friedrich I Graf von Montfort
1290–1298	Berthold II Graf von Heiligenberg
1298	Hugo Graf von Montfort
1298–1321	Siegfried von Geilnhausen
1321–1324	Rudolf II Graf von Montfort
1324–1325	Hermann von Eichenbach
1325–1331	Johann I von Pfefferhart
1331–1355	Ulrich V von Lenzburg Lenzburg Lenzburg is a town in the central region of the Swiss canton Aargau and is the capital of the district of the same name. The town, founded in the Middle Ages, lies in the Seetal valley, about 3 kilometres south of the Aare river. Lenzburg and the neighbouring municipalities of Niederlenz and...
1355–1368	Peter Gelyto
1368–1376	Friedrich II von Erdingen
1376–1388	Johann II von Ehingen
1388–1390	Bartholomew
1390–1416	Hartmann II Graf von Werdenberg-Sargans
1416–1417	Johann III Ambundi Johannes Ambundii Johannes VI Ambundii, Archbishopric of Riga 1418-1424, secular name Johannes Ambundii de Swan, also Abundi, Ambundij, Habundi, Habendi, Habindi, Almanni and ~ von Schwan was a German ecclesiastic. Ambundii is thought to be born in the area of Stettin in Pomerania...
1417–1440	Johann IV Naso
1440–1441	Konrad IV von Rechberg Rechberg For the mountain, see Rechberg .Rechberg was the name of a noble comital family in Swabia during the Holy Roman Empire period.*Ulrich I von Rechberg, ca. 1140-1206, auf Hohenrechberg, Swabian Marescalc, married Edilhardis von Ramis and Berchterad von Biberbach*Hildebrand von Rechberg, fl...
1441–1453	Heinrich V von Höwen	Bishop of Constance
1453–1458	Leonhard Wyssmayer
1458–1491	Ortlieb von Brandis
1491–1503	Heinrich VI von Höwen
1503–1541	Paul Ziegler von Ziegelberg
1541–1548	Licius Iter
1548–1565	Thomas Planta
1565–1581	Beatus à Porta
1581–1601	Peter II von Rascher
1601–1627	Giovanni V
1627–1635	Joseph Mohr, von Zernez
1636–1661	Giovanni VI
1661–1692	Ulrich VI di Monte-Villa
1692–1728	Ulrich VII von Federspiel
1728–1754	Joseph Benedict von Rost
1755–1777	Johann Anton von Federspiel
1777–1794	Franz Dionysius von Rost
1794–1833	Karl Rudolf Graf von Buol-Schauenstein Karl Rudolf Graf von Buol-Schauenstein Karl Rudolf Graf von Buol-Schauenstein was Bishop of Chur in Graubünden, Switzerland who also served as the last prince-bishop of Chur....	last prince-bishop Prince-Bishop A Prince-Bishop is a bishop who is a territorial Prince of the Church on account of one or more secular principalities, usually pre-existent titles of nobility held concurrently with their inherent clerical office...  (until 1803)
1834–1844	Johann Georg Bossi
1844–1859	Kaspar I de Carl ab Hohenbalken
1859–1876	Nikolaus Franz Florentini
1877–1879	Kaspar II Willi
1879–1888	Franz Konstantin Rampa
1888–1908	Johannes Fidelis Battaglia
1908–1932	Georg Schmid von Grüneck
1932–1941	Laurenz Matthias Vincenz
1941–1962	Cristiano Caminada
1962–1990	Johannes Vonderach
1990–1997	Wolfgang Haas Wolfgang Haas Wolfgang Haas is the first archbishop of the Archdiocese of Vaduz in Liechtenstein. He was ordained a priest as well as incardinated in Chur on April 7, 1974. At the request of the bishop of Chur Johannes Vonderach, Haas was appointed to the position of coadjutor bishop of Chur on March 25,...
1997–2007	Amédée Grab
From 2007	Vitus Huonder