Early history The present city of
Augsburg appears in
Strabo as
Damasia, a stronghold of the Licatii; in 14 BC, it became a
Roman colony known as
Augusta Vindelicorum, received the rights of a city from
Hadrian and soon became of great importance as an arsenal and the point of junction of several important trade routes. Though the beginnings of
Christianity within the limits of the present
diocese are shrouded in obscurity, its teachings were probably brought there by soldiers or merchants. According to the acts of the martyrdom of
St. Afra, who with her handmaids
suffered at the stake for Christ, there existed in Augsburg early in the fourth century a Christian community under Bishop Narcissus. Dionysius, uncle of St. Afra, is mentioned as his successor. Nothing authentic is known about the history of the Augsburg Church during the centuries immediately succeeding, but it survived the collapse of Roman power in
Germany and the turbulence of the great migrations. It is true that two catalogues of the Bishops of Augsburg, dating from the eleventh and twelfth centuries, mention several bishops of this primitive period, but the first whose record has received indubitable historical corroboration is Wikterp (or Wicbpert), who was bishop about 739 or 768. He took part in several
synods convened by
Saint Boniface in Germany; in company with
Magnus of Füssen, founded the monastery of
Füssen; and with Saint Boniface, dedicated the monastery at
Benediktbeuern. Under either Saint Wikterp or his successor, Tazzo (or Tozzo), about whom little is known, many monasteries were established, e.g. the abbeys of
Wessobrunn,
Ellwangen,
Polling and
Ottobeuren. At this time, also, the see, hitherto
suffragan to the Patriarchate of Aquileia, was placed among the suffragan sees of the newly founded
Archdiocese of Mainz (746). Saint
Simpert (), hitherto abbot of
Murbach, and a relative of
Charlemagne, renovated many churches and monasteries laid waste in the wars of the
Franks and
Bavarians, and during the incursions of the
Avari; he built the first cathedral of Augsburg in honour of the Virgin Mary; and obtained from the Emperor Charlemagne an exact definition of his diocesan limits. His jurisdiction extended at that time from the
Iller eastward over the
Lech, north of the
Danube to the
Alb, and south to the spurs of the Alps. Moreover, various estates and villages in the valley of the Danube, and in
Tyrol, belonged to the diocese.
Prince-Bishopric Restoration After the
Congress of Vienna, where the diocese was restored,
Franz Karl von Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst (d. 1819) was appointed bishop and
Joseph Maria von Fraunberg was soon called to the
archdiocese of Bamberg. There, they devolved upon their successors the important task of rearranging the external conditions and reanimating religious life, which had suffered sorely.
Ignatius Albert von Riegg (1824–1836) was successful in his endeavors to raise the standard of popular education through the medium of numerous ordinances and frequent visitations. He assigned the administration and direction of studies in the Lyceum to the monks of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Stephen in Augsburg, founded by King
Ludwig I of Bavaria (1834). Petrus von Richarz (1837–1855) displayed energy and persistent zeal in promoting the interests of his diocese and the Catholic Church in general, and encouraged the giving of missions to the people, the establishment of many religious institutions for the care of the sick and for educational purposes, and carefully superintended the training of the clergy. The same spirit characterized the labours of the succeeding bishops:
Michael Deinlein (1856–1858), who after a short episcopate was raised to the
Archbishopric of Bamberg;
Pankratius von Dinkel (1858–1894), under whom both seminaries and the deaf and dumb asylum were established in Dillingen, and many monastic institutions were founded; Petrus von Hotzl (1895-1902) whose episcopate was marked by the attention paid to social and intellectual pursuits, and the number of missions given among the people as well as by the solemn celebration of the beatification of the pious
Franciscan sister,
Maria Crescentia Höss. He was succeeded by
Maximilian von Lingg. == Bishops ==