See 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 |
| Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
| 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, upon the dissolution of the diocese of Noyon & Tournai, which 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 sources name him as the first bishop, but this remains unsubstantiated. At the end of the 3rd century Emperor Maximian rekindled persecutions, and St. Piat was martyred as a result.
Barbarian invasions began shortly afterwards. These lasted from the end of the 3rd century till the end of the 5th century. St. Remigius used 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 founded the See of Tournai (c. 500), appointing as its titular Eleutherius.
It was probably its status of royal city which secured Tournai's early rise, only to lose its position as capital upon the departure of the Merovingian court. Nevertheless, it maintained its own bishops for nearly a century. Then, at about 626 or 627, under the episcopate of St. Achar, the sees of Tournai and Noyon were reunited, retaining however their separate structures. Tournai lost its privileges and was relegated to level 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