Ancient Diocese of Ribe

Diocese of Ribe Dioecesis Ripensis Ribe Stift
Ribe Cathedral, seat of the bishop of Ribe.
Location
Country	Denmark
Ecclesiastical province	Lund
Metropolitan	Archdiocese of Lund
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	948
Dissolved	1536
Cathedral	Ribe Cathedral

The former Roman Catholic diocese of Ribe (29 deaneries, 278 parishes) consisted of the modern Danish Provinces of Ribe, Vejle and Ringkøbing, and part of Southern Jutland. The first church built at Ribe was founded by Saint Ansgar in 860, served by his biographer and successor, Saint Rembert, and destroyed during the heathen reaction after the latter's death in 888. It was rebuilt towards 948, in which year Saint Leofdag, first Bishop of Ribe, was consecrated by Archbishop Adaldag of Hamburg, probably at the Council of Ingelheim (Germany), which the Jutlandic bishops attended. Leofdag is said to have been martyred by the heathen at Ribe. Until the death of his third known successor Vale (1044–59) the bishops of Ribe, Schleswig, and Aarhus wandered about Jutland on missionary tours.

In 1060, Jutland north of the Kongeå was divided into the four Dioceses of Ribe, Aarhus, Viborg and Vestervig (Børglum). Originally the diocese was a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen until 1104, when the Diocese of Lund, elevated to a new archdiocese, became its metropolitan. Bishop Thure (1125–34) began the construction of the fine Cathedral of Our Lady at Ribe, which was finished under Bishop Elias (1142–66), who founded the chapter in 1145. His successor Radulf (1170–71), an Englishman and chancellor to King Valdemar I, translated to the cathedral the relics of Saint Leofdag, who was never formally canonized. He began the foundation of the Cistercian Løgum Abbey (Løgumkloster; Locus Dei) in the present Løgumkloster in Northern Schleswig, which was completed by his successor Stephen (1173–77), formerly abbot of Herrevad Abbey (in Scania). Bishop Omer (1178–1204) reduced the number of the canons of Ribe to twelve. Bishop Christian II (1288–1313) in 1298 greatly enriched the cathedral school, which had been founded in 1145. Bishops Eskil (1388–1409) and Henry Stangberg (1455–65) published synodal statutes with a view to reforming both clergy and laity.