In Bethlehem In 1099 Bethlehem was conquered by Catholic forces in the
First Crusade. A new monastery and cloister were built by the
Augustinians to the north of the
Church of the Nativity, with a tower to the south and an episcopal palace to the west. The Orthodox clergy (the Christian presence in the area had until then been
Greek Orthodox) were ejected and replaced by Catholic clergy. On his birthday in 1100,
Baldwin I was crowned
king of Jerusalem in Bethlehem — that same year, at Baldwin's request,
Pope Paschal II established Bethlehem (never before an episcopal see) as a
Catholic bishopric, a
suffragan of the
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. In 1187 the Ayyubid Sultan
Saladin (of Egypt, Syria and more in the Levant) reconquered Bethlehem and the Catholic clergy was forced to let the Greek Orthodox clergy return. Saladin himself in 1192 allowed two Catholic priests and two deacons to return to the diocese, though Bethlehem's economy still suffered from the drastic reduction in pilgrims from Europe. In 1250, with the
Mamluks' risen to power, tolerance for Christians in Palestine declined — the Catholic clergy left Bethlehem, whose walls were demolished in 1263. The Catholics then returned to Bethlehem only in the 14th century and settled in the monastery adjacent to the Church of the Nativity. The Greek Orthodox in the meantime took over control of the Church of the Nativity and shared control of the
Milk Grotto with the Catholics and the
Armenians. • Anselm (before 1132 – after 1142) I, (1155 – death 1173) • Peter (before 1204 – killed in 1205 at the
battle of Adrianopolis) in the town of
Clamecy in
Burgundy, together with some land, to the bishops of Bethlehem, in case Bethlehem should fall under
Muslim control. In 1223, the then bishop of Bethlehem took up residence in his Burgundian property, which remained the seat of residential (nearly titular) Bishops of Bethlehem for almost 600 years, until the
French Revolution of 1789. From 1223, therefore, the 'exiled' Bishops of Bethlehem exercised jurisdiction over the hospital and the faubourg that was their property. Their successors were chosen by the counts, later the dukes of Nevers, with the approval of the pope and the king, although (neighbouring) French bishoprics contested their diocesan legitimity. In 1413, King
Charles VI tried to obtain for them the privileges enjoyed by the diocesan bishops of the realm, but because of the opposition of the French clergy they continued to be considered bishops ''''. In 1635, the
assembly of the French clergy granted them an annual pension. Christopher d'Authier of
Sisgau, founder of the Missionary Priests of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament and celebrated for his sermons to the galley-slaves of Marseilles, was Bishop of Bethlehem 1651–63. The immediate aftermath of the French Revolution extinguished the title to property that was once attached to the titular bishopric of Bethlehem, making it like any other of the
titular sees listed by the
Catholic Church in the
Annuario Pontificio.
Titular see Circa 1462 the crusader diocese was nominally restored by Rome, alongside Clamecy (which was in obedience to the
Antipopes of Avignon), but now as a regular Latin
Titular bishopric of Bethlehem (English) / Bethléem (français) / Betlemme (Italiano) / Bethleem (latine) / Bethleemitan(us) (Latin). It had the following incumbents, all of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank : • Giovanni Berratino (1462.09.19 – ?) • Fabrizio (? – ?) • Francesco de Carralaris (1468.06.01 – 1471?) • Cristoforo Amici (1473.02.01 – 1500.07.18) • Matteo (1506.11.21 – 1511?) • Antonio de Monte (1517.04.20 – 1517.08.21) •
Cristoforo Guidalotti Ciocchi del Monte (Christophe de Monte) (later Cardinal) (1517.08.21 – 1525.02.10) • Tommaso Albizzi (1525.02.10 – 1527) • Leonardo da Vercelli, O.E.S.A. (1534? – ?) • Luís Soler (1536.04.28 – ?) • Cristóbal de Arguellada (1550.07.04 – 1572?) • Mario Bellomo (1585.09.23 – 1593) • Vincenzo Malatesta (1595.11.20 – 1603.05.02). Circa 1603 it was suppressed, but in 1840 restored as
Titular bishopric of Bethlehem (English) / Bethléem (French) / Betlemme (Curiate Italian) / Bethleem (Latin) / Bethleemitan(us) (Latin), this time however with
Apostolic succession to the former 'Burgundy-exiled'
Diocese of Bethléem à Clamecy. :The Abbots of the
Territorial Abbacy of Saint-Maurice d’Agaune (which has its own Swiss Congregation of
Canons Regular, C.S.A.) held the title of Bethlehem from 1840.07.03 to 1970. It is vacant since 1987, having had the following incumbents, so far all of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank : :BIOS TO ELABORATE • Étienne-Barthélemy Bagnoud, C.R.A. (1840.07.03 – 1888.11.02) • Joseph Paccolat, C.R.A. (1889.02.05 – 1909.04.04) • Joseph-Emile Abbet, C.R.A. (1909.07.24 – 1914.08.03) • Joseph-Tobie Mariétan, C.R.A. (1914.10.15 – 1931.02.08) • Bernard Alexis Burquier, C.R.A. (1932.08.22 – 1943.03.30) • Lois-Séverin Haller, C.R.A. (1943.06.26 – 1987.07.17) == See also ==