Diocese of Tournai
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Diocese of Tournai Dioecesis Tornacensis Diocèse de Tournai (French) Bistum Tournai (German) Bisdom Doornik (Dutch) |
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Aerial view of Tournai Cathedral
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| Location | |
| Country | Belgium |
| Ecclesiastical province | Mechelen-Brussels |
| Metropolitan | Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 3,796 km2 (1,466 sq mi) |
| Population - Total - Catholics |
(as of 2010) 1,291,850 904,905 (70%) |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Established | 6th Century |
| Cathedral | Cathedral of Notre Dame de Tournai |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Francis |
| Bishop | Guy Harpigny |
| Metropolitan Archbishop | André-Joseph Léonard |
| Map | |
 The Diocese of Tournai, coextensive with the province of Hainaut |
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| Website | |
| Website of the Diocese | |
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Tournai is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in Belgium. The diocese was formed in 1146, by the splitting of the diocese of Noyon and Tournai that had existed since the 7th century. It is now suffragan of the archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels.
As early as the second half of the 3rd century St. Piat evangelized Tournai; some writers represent him as the first bishop, but this cannot be proved. Towards the end of the 3rd century the Emperor Maximian rekindled the persecutions, and St. Piat suffered martyrdom.
The barbarian invasions began shortly afterwards. This lasted from the end of the 3rd century till the end of the 5th century. St. Remigius profited by the good will of the Frankish monarchy to organize the Catholic hierarchy in the north of Gaul. He confided the Diocese of Arras and Cambrai to St. Vaast (Vedastus), and erected the See of Tournai (c. 500), appointing as its titular Eleutherius.
It was probably its character of royal city which secured for Tournai this premature creation, but it soon lost its rank of capital by the departure of the Merovingian court. Nevertheless it kept its own bishops for nearly a century; then about 626 or 627, under the episcopate of St. Achar, the sees of Tournai and Noyon were united, retaining separate organizations. Tournai then lost the benefit of a privileged situation, and shared the condition of the neighbouring dioceses, such as Boulogne and Therouanne, Arras and Cambrai, where the same titular held both sees for five hundred years. It was only in 1146 that Tournai received its own bishop.
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Wikipedia