The
Diocese of Lund-Main sights:During the 12th and 13th centuries, when the town was the seat of the archbishop, many churches and monasteries were built. At its peak, Lund had 27 churches, but most of them were demolished as result of the Reformation in 1536. Several medieval buildings remain, including Lund...
is the southernmost diocese in the
Church of SwedenThe Church of Sweden is the largest Christian church in Sweden. The church professes the Lutheran faith and is a member of the Porvoo Communion. With 6,589,769 baptized members, it is the largest Lutheran church in the world, although combined, there are more Lutherans in the member churches of...
. The territory of the diocese corresponds to the
provincesThe provinces of Sweden, landskap, are historical, geographical and cultural regions. Sweden has 25 provinces and they have no administrative function, but remain historical legacies and the means of cultural identification....
of
Blekinge' is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden , situated in the south of the country. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea.The name "Blekinge" comes from the adjective bleke, which corresponds to the nautical term for "dead calm"....
and
ScaniaScania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...
. There are 217
parishA parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
es within the diocese, the largest number in any of the dioceses of the Church of Sweden. The present bishop of Lund is
Antje JackelénAntje Jackelén, born June 4, 1955 in Herdecke, Germany, is the Bishop of Lund in Sweden. She was ordained a priest in the Church of Sweden in 1980 and became a doctor of Theology at Lund University in 1999....
. She succeeded
Christina OdenbergChristina Odenberg is the retired bishop of the Diocese of Lund in Sweden between 1997 and 2007. Appointed by the Government of Sweden on June 5, 1997, she became the first woman bishop in the history of the Church of Sweden...
, the first female bishop in
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, in 2007.
History
The diocese was formed in 1060, in what was then
DanishDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
territory, by separation from the
Diocese of RoskildeThe Diocese of Roskilde is a diocese within the Evangelical Lutheran National Church of Denmark. The seat of the Bishop is Roskilde Cathedral in Roskilde.-History:...
, then both suffragans of the Archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen. The provinces of (north-western) Scania and
Halland' is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden , on the western coast of Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Småland, Scania and the sea of Kattegat.-Administration:...
were under its jurisdiction.
The two other provinces of the Scanian lands,
Blekinge' is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden , situated in the south of the country. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea.The name "Blekinge" comes from the adjective bleke, which corresponds to the nautical term for "dead calm"....
and
BornholmBornholm is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea located to the east of the rest of Denmark, the south of Sweden, and the north of Poland. The main industries on the island include fishing, arts and crafts like glass making and pottery using locally worked clay, and dairy farming. Tourism is...
, were, on the other hand, under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Dalby. At the earliest in 1067, the Dalby diocese was however merged into the Lund diocese.
In 1104, the diocese became an archdiocese of its own competent for Denmark,
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. Norway got its own Archbishop of Nidaros in 1152, and
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
its
Archbishop of UppsalaThe Archbishop of Uppsala has been the primate in Sweden in an unbroken succession since 1164, first during the Catholic era, and from the 1530s and onward under the Lutheran church.- Historical overview :...
in 1164, although the Swedish archbishop remained for a long time nominally subordinate to the Archbishop of Lund. At the time of the Reformation in 1536, the office of archbishop was abolished in Denmark, and Lund was demoted to an ordinary diocese. Initially, the Lutheran bishops were called
superintendentsSuperintendent is the head of an administrative division of a Protestant church, largely historical but still in use in Germany.- Superintendents in Sweden :...
.
In 1658
Lund-Main sights:During the 12th and 13th centuries, when the town was the seat of the archbishop, many churches and monasteries were built. At its peak, Lund had 27 churches, but most of them were demolished as result of the Reformation in 1536. Several medieval buildings remain, including Lund...
, together with the Scanian lands fell under the government of Sweden (never to be reclaimed, except for short intervals during later wars), and Lund became subordinate to the Archbishop of Uppsala.
External links
- article Lunds stift from Nordisk Familjebok
Nordisk familjebok is a Swedish encyclopedia, published between 1876 and 1957.- History :The first edition was published in 20 volumes between 1876 and 1899. The first edition is known as the "Iðunn edition" because of the picture of Iðunn on the cover...
, in Swedish