The Archdiocese of Athens ( or Athenarum) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Greece. Its cathedra is found within the neoclassic Cathedral Basilica of St. Dionysius the Areopagite, in the episcopal see of Athens.

History The See of Athens is one of the oldest Christian bishoprics, dating back to Hierotheos the Thesmothete in the mid-1st century AD. In ca. 800, it was raised to a metropolitan see.

In 1205, the city was captured by the Crusaders, who had conquered Constantinople and dissolved the Byzantine Empire the year before. The city's incumbent Greek Orthodox bishop, Michael Choniates, retired to the island of Kea, and a Latin Catholic archbishop was installed in his place, with the French cleric Berard being elected to the post in 1206.

The Crusaders largely maintained the ecclesiastical order they found, appointing Catholic bishops to replace the Orthodox prelates. Thus, in a letter by Pope Innocent III to Berard in 1209, 11 suffragan sees are mentioned under Athens, identical to those under Byzantine rule, although most of them were de facto vacant: Negroponte (Egripontis), Thermopylae (Cermopilensis, seat in Bodonitsa), Davleia (Davaliensem), Aulon (Abelonensem), Oreoi (Zorconensis), Karystos (Caristiensem), Koroneia (Coroniacensem), Andros (Andrensem), Megara (Megarensem), Skyros (Squirensem), and Kea (Cheensem). In the Provinciale Romanum, a list of the sees subordinate to the See of Rome, dating to some time before 1228, the number of suffragans is reduced to eight: Thermopylae, Daulia, Salona, Negroponte, Aulon, Oreoi, Megara, and Skyros.

The Catholic see remained vacant for a period after the Catalan Company conquered the Duchy of Athens in 1311 due to the Catalans' conflict with the papacy, and a residential archbishop is not attested until around the mid-14th century. Beginning with Dorotheus I ca. 1388, the Orthodox bishops of Athens, who had been continued to be appointed as titular holders since the Latin conquest, were allowed to resume residence in the city, but the Latin Archbishop retained his pre-eminent position until the conquest of the Duchy of Athens by the Ottoman Empire in 1456. The last Latin Archbishop, Nicholas Protimo, fled to Venetian-held Euboea, where he died in 1482. The Catholic see was held by titular archbishops thereafter.

On 23 July 1875, the see was restored as the modern Catholic Archdiocese of Athens, ministering to the Catholic inhabitants of the Greek capital and most of mainland Greece.

Caritas Athens, founded in 1978 and a member of Caritas Hellas, is the official social arm of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Athens.caritasathens.gr

List of Archbishops of Athens

Medieval metropolitan archbishops Name Appointed Term ended Notes Berard summer 1206 1223? Frenchman, replacing the exiled Orthodox archbishop Michael Choniates. Corrado di Sumo 15 February 1253 ? Uldrico 20 May 1273 ? Stefano Mangiatero, O.P. 1300? ? Henry ca. 1305 Nicholas Salamon 1328–1351 Appointed in 1328 until his death in early 1351. John 8 June 1351 – 1357 ? Formerly archdeacon of Candia, died in office. Nicholas de Raynaldo 9 June 1357 ? Venetian sub-deacon, dean of Negroponte, elected by the local canons and (re)confirmed by the Pope. Francis, O.F.M. 20 August 1365 ? Elected by the local canons and (re)confirmed by the Pope. John ? Unknown, except as a name. Antonio Ballester, O.F.M. 27 March 1370 1387 Catalan, and a prominent figure of Latin Greece. Loyal to the Roman papacy during the Western Schism, vicar of the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople. Antonio Blasi [Dexart]?, O.Merc. 14 May 1388 21 February 1403 Catalan, appointed at the request of John I of Aragon by the Avignon papacy, although Athens had been captured by the Florentine adventurer Nerio Acciaioli. Consequently, Blasi never visited Athens, until his transfer to Cagliari in 1403. Gerard Boem, O.F.M. 1388 Appointed by the Roman papacy, represented by Bishop James of Argos as vicar in 1389-90 at least. Lodovico Aliotti 12 June 1392 1 June 1398 Afterwards appointed Bishop of Volterra. Died 6 April 1411. Franceschino, O.Cist. ? 9 May 1400 Died. Andrea de Lucha, O.Carm. 6 September 140 ? John Antony of Corinth 2 August 1426 ? Francesco 5 November 1427 ? Filippo Aulini 18 May 1429 ? Nicholas Protimo 6 July 1446 1482 Last archbishop under Latin rule. Fled to Negroponte after the Ottoman conquest in 1456. Source(s):

Titular archbishops Name Appointed Term ended Notes Giovanni Nicolini 26 April 1482 ? Previously Archbishop of Amalfi. Alexander Gordon 4 September 1551 11 November 1575 Died Attilio Amalteo 14 August 1606 25 May 1633 Died Gaspare Mattei 5 September 1639 14 December 1643 Afterwards appointed Cardinal-Priest of San Pancrazio Nicolò Guidi di Bagno 14 March 1644 9 April 1657 Afterwards appointed Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Eusebio Giacomo Altoviti 29 July 1658 18 April 1667 Afterwards appointed Titular Patriarch of Antioch Carlo de' Vecchi 27 April 1667 13 March 1673 Died Francesco Boccapaduli 15 July 1675 23 November 1680 Died Marcello d'Aste 10 December 1691 3 February 1700 Afterwards appointed Archbishop of Ancona e Numana (personal title) Filippo Antonio Gualtieri 30 March 1700 21 November 1701 Afterwards appointed Archbishop of Imola (personal title) Giuseppe Vallemani 5 December 1701 28 November 1707 Afterwards appointed Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria degli Angeli Pier Marcellino Corradini 7 November 1707 21 November 1712 Afterwards appointed Cardinal-Priest of San Giovanni a Porta Latina Silvius de Cavalieri 5 October 1712 11 January 1717 Died Bartolomeo Massei 3 February 1721 8 January 1731 Afterwards appointed Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Agostino Nicola Saverio Albini 8 January 1731 11 April 1740 Died Ludovico Merlini 27 October 1740 21 July 1760 Afterwards appointed Cardinal-Priest of Santa Prisca Giovanni Carlo Boschi 22 September 1760 21 July 1766 Afterwards appointed Cardinal-Priest of Santi Giovanni e Paolo Ignazio Reali 26 September 1766 8 December 1767 Died Giuseppe Maria Contesini 25 January 1768 28 February 1785 Died Giulio Cesare Zoglio 27 June 1785 13 April 1795 Died Camillo Campanelli 27 June 1796 23 September 1805 Afterwards appointed Archbishop of Perugia (personal title) Giovanni Francesco Guerrieri 16 March 1808 27 September 1819 Afterwards appointed Archbishop of Rimini (personal title) Giovanni Francesco Falzacappa 27 September 1819 10 March 1823 Afterwards appointed Archbishop of Ancona e Numana (personal title) Filippo Filonardi 16 May 1823 3 July 1826 Afterwards appointed Archbishop of Ferrara Francesco Tiberi Contigliano 2 October 1826 2 July 1832 Afterwards appointed Archbishop of Jesi (personal title) Ludovico Tevoli 17 December 1832 17 October 1856 Died Mariano Falcinelli Antoniacci, O.S.B. 21 December 1857 4 May 1874 Afterwards appointed Cardinal-Priest of San Marcello Source(s):

Modern metropolitan archbishops Incumbent Appointed Term ended Notes Ioannis Marangos 23 July 1875 17 December 1891 Died Giuseppe Zaffino 29 April 1892 7 February 1895 Died Caietanus Maria de Angelis, O.F.M. Conv. 10 May 1895 28 March 1900 Died Antonio Delenda 29 April 1900 10 September 1911 Died Louis Petit, A.A. 4 March 1912 24 June 1926 Resigned Giovanni Battista Filippucci 25 January 1927 29 May 1947 Afterwards appointed Archbishop of Naxos, Andros, Tinos and Mykonos Markos Sigalas 22 February 1947 10 March 1950 Died Marios Makrionitis, S.J. 11 March 1953 8 April 1959 Died Venediktos Printesis 15 May 1959 17 November 1972 Resigned Nikolaos Foskolos 25 June 1973 12 August 2014 Retired Sevastianos Rossolatos 12 August 2014 14 July 2021 Retired Theodoros Kontidis, S.J. 14 July 2021 present Source(s):

See also Roman Catholicism in Greece List of Roman Catholic dioceses in Greece

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