Catholic diocese The Roman Catholic Diocese of Lund was formed in 1060, in what was then
Danish territory, by separation from the
Diocese of Roskilde, then both
suffragans of the German
Archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen. Initially, only the provinces of north-western Skåne and
Halland were under its jurisdiction. The two other
Scanian Provinces,
Blekinge and
Bornholm, were instead under the jurisdiction of the nearby
Diocese of Dalby. At the earliest in 1067, the Dalby diocese was merged with the Lund diocese. In 1104, the diocese became the
Metropolitan Archdiocese of Lund with its own
ecclesiastical province, initially covering Denmark, Norway and
Sweden. Norway got its own
Archbishop of Nidaros in 1152, and
Sweden its
Archbishop of Uppsala in 1164. However, the Swedish archbishop remained for a long time nominally subordinate to the Archbishop of Lund. The
Diocese of Reval was created in 1240 for the Danish
Duchy of Estonia, centred around Reval (modern
Tallinn). For a short time, it remained subjugated to the Archdiocese of Lund even after Denmark sold its territories in Estonia to the
Livonian Order in 1346 while other dioceses of
Medieval Livonia were subjugated to the
Archdiocese of Riga. The diocese was finally transferred to the Archdiocese of Riga in 1374.
Protestant era During the Danish
Reformation in 1536, the infrastructure of the Catholic church within the Kingdom of Denmark was seized by the crown and reinstated into the
Church of Denmark. The office of archbishop was abolished in Denmark, and the
Lutheran Diocese of Lund was demoted to an ordinary diocese. Initially, the bishops were styled
superintendents. After the
Treaty of Roskilde in 1658, Scania came under Swedish rule and the diocese was integrated into the Church of Sweden, subordinate to the Archbishop of Uppsala. The Scanian Provinces had been ceded to Sweden, though
Bornholm was permanently restored to Denmark in 1660. The Catholic church became highly suppressed within Scandinavia during the reformation. The majority of the Nordic region was then administered by the
Apostolic Vicariate of Nordic Missions, which had little fixed presence. In 1783, the Apostolic Prefecture of Sweden was formed later becoming the Apostolic Vicariate of Sweden. In 1953, the Vicariate was promoted to the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Stockholm which has jurisdiction over the whole of Sweden. == See also ==