The Catholic Church has been present in the area that now constitutes the
Republic of Latvia since
Saint Canute IV in the mid-11th century brought Christianity to
Courland and
Livonia and the first Christian church was built 1048 in Courland.
Bishop Albert of Riga and the
Livonian Brothers of the Sword were the first to initiate organized Christianization of all the indigenous people in the early 13th century - at the time tribal cultures like the
Curonians, the
Latgallians, the
Livs, the
Selonians and the
Semigallians. ==Organization==