# Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites

A particular church (Latin: ecclesia particularis) is an ecclesiastical community of followers headed by a bishop (or equivalent), as defined by Catholic canon law and ecclesiology. A liturgical rite, a collection of liturgies descending from shared historic or regional context, depends on the particular church the bishop (or equivalent) belongs to. Thus the term "particular church" refers to an institution, and "liturgical rite" to its ritual practices.
Particular churches exist in two kinds:
* An autonomous particular church sui iuris: an aggregation of particular churches with distinct liturgical, spiritual, theological and canonical traditions. The largest such autonomous particular church is the Latin Church. The other 23 Eastern Catholic Churches are headed by bishops, some of which are titled Patriarch or Major Archbishop. In this context the descriptors autonomous (Greek: αὐτόνομος, romanized: autónomos) and sui iuris (Latin) are synonymous, meaning "of its own law".
* A local particular church: a diocese (or eparchy) headed by a bishop (or equivalent), typically collected in a national polity under an episcopal conference. However, there are also other forms, including apostolic vicariates, apostolic prefectures, military ordinariates, personal ordinariates, and territorial abbacies.
Liturgical rites also exist in two kinds:
* Liturgical rite: a liturgical rite depending on the tradition of an autonomous particular church sui iuris. Catholic liturgies are broadly divided into the Latin liturgical rites of the Latin Church and the various Eastern Catholic liturgies of the other 23 sui iuris churches
* Catholic order liturgical rite: a variant of a liturgical rite exceptionately depending on a specific religious order

## Churches
### List of churches sui iuris

| | Name | Est. | Rite | Seat | Polity | Jurisdictions | Bishops | Members |
| | Coptic Catholic Church | 1741 | Alexandrian | Cathedral of Our Lady, Cairo, Egypt | Patriarchate | 8 | 13 | 187,320 |
| | Eritrean Catholic Church | 2015 | Alexandrian | Kidane Mehret Cathedral, Asmara, Eritrea | Metropolitanate | 4 | 4 | 167,722 |
| | Ethiopian Catholic Church | 1846 | Alexandrian | Cathedral of the Holy Saviour, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | Metropolitanate | 4 | 4 | 70,832 |
| | Armenian Catholic Church | 1742 | Armenian | Cathedral of Saint Elias and Saint Gregory, Beirut, Lebanon | Patriarchate | 18 | 16 | 757,726 |
| | Albanian Greek Catholic Church | 1628 | Byzantine | Pro-Cathedral of Saint Mary and Saint Louis, Vlorë, Albania | Apostolic administration | 1 | 2 | 4,028 |
| | Belarusian Greek Catholic Church | 1596 | Byzantine | none | none | 0 | 0 | 9,000 |
| | Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church | 1861 | Byzantine | Cathedral of the Dormition, Sofia, Bulgaria | Apostolic exarchate | 1 | 1 | 10,000 |
| | Greek Catholic Church of Croatia and Serbia$^{:1140}$ | 1611 | Byzantine | several | no unified structure | 2 | 2 | 42,965 |
| | Greek Byzantine Catholic Church | 1911 | Byzantine | several | no unified structure | 2 | 2 | 6,016 |
| | Hungarian Greek Catholic Church | 1912 | Byzantine | Cathedral of Hajdúdorog, Debrecen, Hungary | Metropolitanate | 3 | 4 | 262,484 |
| | Italo-Albanian Catholic Church | 1784 | Byzantine | several | no unified structure | 3 | 2 | 55,812 |
| | Macedonian Greek Catholic Church | 2001 | Byzantine | Cathedral of the Assumption, Strumica, North Macedonia | Eparchy | 1 | 1 | 11,374 |
| | Melkite Greek Catholic Church | 1726 | Byzantine | Cathedral of the Dormition, Damascus, Syria | Patriarchate | 29 | 35 | 1,568,239 |
| | Romanian Greek Catholic Church | 1697 | Byzantine | Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Blaj, Romania | Major archiepiscopate | 7 | 8 | 498,658 |
| | Russian Greek Catholic Church | 1905 | Byzantine | none | none | 2 | 0 | 3,200 |
| | Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church | 1646 | Byzantine | Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, Pittsburgh, United States | Metropolitanate | 6 | 8 | 417,795 |
| | Slovak Greek Catholic Church | 1646 | Byzantine | Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, Prešov, Slovakia | Metropolitanate | 4 | 6 | 211,208 |
| | Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church | 1595 | Byzantine | Cathedral of the Resurrection, Kyiv, Ukraine | Major archiepiscopate | 35 | 50 | 4,471,688 |
| | Chaldean Catholic Church | 1552 | East Syriac | Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows, Baghdad, Iraq | Patriarchate | 23 | 23 | 628,405 |
| | Syro-Malabar Catholic Church | 1552 | East Syriac | Cathedral of Our Lady, Ernakulam, Kerala, India | Major archiepiscopate | 35 | 63 | 4,251,399 |
| | Maronite Church | 4th c. | West Syriac | Church of Bkerke, Bkerke, Lebanon | Patriarchate | 29 | 50 | 3,498,707 |
| | Syriac Catholic Church | 1781 | West Syriac | Syriac Catholic Cathedral of Saint Paul, Damascus, Syria | Patriarchate | 16 | 20 | 195,765 |
| | Syro-Malankara Catholic Church | 1930 | West Syriac | Cathedral of Saint Mary, Pattom, Kerala, India | Major archiepiscopate | 12 | 14 | 458,015 |
| | Latin Church | 1st c. | Latin | Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, Rome, Italy | Patriarchate | | | 1,295,000,000 |
| | Other | | various | several | Ordinariates | 6 | 6 | 47,830 |
| Total | | | | | | 2,851 | 5,304 | 1.313 billion |

### Ecclesiology

Part of a series on the :
Catholic Church :
St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City :
Overview :
Pope: Francis
Hierarchy
History (timeline)
Theology
Liturgy
Sacraments
Mary :
Background
Jesus Christ
Crucifixion
Resurrection
Ascension
Early Christianity
Peter
Paul
Fathers
History of the Catholic Church
History of the papacy
Ecumenical councils
Magisterium
Four Marks of the Church
One true church
Apostolic succession :
Organisation
Holy See
Roman Curia
College of Cardinals
Ecumenical councils
Episcopal polity
Latin Church
Eastern Churches
Canon law :
TheologiesDoctrine
God
Trinity
Father
Son
Holy Ghost
Consubstantialitas
Filioque
Divinum illud munus
Divine law
Decalogus
Ex Cathedra
Deificatio
Realms beyond the States of the Church
Heaven
Purgatory
Limbo
Hell
Paschal mystery
Passion of Jesus
Crucifixion of Jesus
Harrowing of Hell
Resurrection of Jesus
Ascension of Jesus
Blessed Virgin Mary
Mariology
Veneration
Immaculate Conception
Mater Dei
Perpetual virginity
Assumption
Dormition
Titles
Queen
Apparition
Mediatrix
Salvation
Baptism of desire
Baptism of blood
Divine grace
Outside the Church there is no salvation
Infused righteousness
Invincible ignorance
Justification
Means of grace
Merit
Mortal sin
Satisfaction
Moral influence
Sanctification
Synergism
Venial sin
Ecclesiology
College of Bishops
Deposit of faith
Infallibility of the Church
Mystical Body of Christ
Papal primacy
People of God
Perfect community
Subsistit in
Other teachings
Josephology
Morality
Body
Lectures
Sexuality
Apologetics
Amillennialism
Original sin
Hypostatic union
Predestination
Seven deadly sins
Beatific vision
Saints
Dogma :
Texts
Bible
Old Testament
New Testament
Official Bible
Vulgate
Sixtine Vulgate
Sixto-Clementine Vulgate
Nova Vulgata
Peshitta
Apostles' Creed
Nicene Creed
Athanasian Creed
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Papal bull
Apostolic exhortation
Epistula Encyclica :
Philosophy
Cardinal Virtues
Just war
Natural law
Catholic ethics
Personalism
Probabilism
Social teaching
Philosophy of canon law
Philosophers
Virtue ethics
Schools
Augustinianism
Scholasticism
Thomism
Scotism
Occamism
Christian humanism
Molinism
Neo-scholasticism
Traditionalist Catholicism
Sedevacantism :
Worship
Liturgy
Eastern Catholic liturgy
Mass
Divine Liturgy
Holy Qurbana
Holy Qurbono
Liturgy of the Hours
Liturgical year
Sacraments
Baptism
Penance
Eucharist
Confirmation
Anointing of the Sick
Matrimony
Holy orders
Prayer
Devotions
Bible
Biblical canon :
Rites
Latin liturgy:
Roman
Post-Vatican II
Tridentine
Use of Sarum
Anglican Use
Zaire Use
Gallican
Ambrosian
Braga
Mozarabic
Eastern Catholic liturgy:
Alexandrian
Antiochene
West Syriac
Malankara
East Syriac
Armenian
Byzantine :
Miscellaneous
Antipopes
Anti-Catholicism
Criticism
Deism/Pandeism
Ecumenism
Monasticism
Relations with:
Islam
Judaism
Orthodoxy
Protestantism :
Societal issues
Art
Evolution
Health care
HIV/AIDS
Homosexuality
Sexual abuse
Music
Nazi Germany
Politics (in the United States)
Role in civilization
Science
Sex and gender roles
Slavery
the Age of Discovery :
Links and resources
Index
Outline
Glossary
Category
Media
Templates
WikiProject
Vatican City portal :
Catholic Church portal :
vte :
In Catholic ecclesiology, a church is an assembly of the faithful, hierarchically ordered, both in the entire world (the Catholic Church), or in a certain territory (a particular church). To be a sacrament (a sign) of the Mystical Body of Christ in the world, a church must have both a head and members (Col. 1:18). The sacramental sign of Christ the head is the sacred hierarchy – the bishops, priests and deacons.
More specifically, it is the local bishop, with his priests and deacons gathered around and assisting him in his office of teaching, sanctifying and governing (Mt. 28:19–20; Titus 1:4–9). Thus, the church is fully present sacramentally (by way of a sign) wherever there is a sign of Christ the head, a bishop and those who assist him, and a sign of Christ's body, Christian faithful. Each diocese is therefore considered a particular church.
On the worldwide level, the sign of Christ the head is the Pope, and, to be Catholic, particular churches, whether local churches or autonomous ritual churches, must be in communion with this sign of Christ the head. Through this full communion with Saint Peter and his successors the church becomes a universal sacrament of salvation to the end of the age (Mt. 28:20).
The word "church" is applied to the Catholic Church as a whole, which is seen as a single church: the multitude of peoples and cultures within the church, and the great diversity of gifts, offices, conditions and ways of life of its members, are not opposed to the church's unity. In this sense of "church", the list of churches in the Catholic Church has only one member, the Catholic Church itself (comprising Roman and Eastern Churches).
Within the Catholic Church there are local particular churches, of which dioceses are the most familiar form. Other forms include territorial abbacies, apostolic vicariates and apostolic prefectures. The 1983 Code of Canon Law states: "Particular Churches, in which and from which the one and only Catholic Church exists, are principally dioceses. Unless the contrary is clear, the following are equivalent to a diocese: a territorial prelature, a territorial abbacy, a vicariate apostolic, a prefecture apostolic and a permanently established apostolic administration." A list of Catholic dioceses, of which on 31 December 2011 there were 2,834, is given at List of Catholic dioceses (alphabetical).
Within the Catholic Church there are also aggregations of local particular churches that share a specific liturgical, theological, spiritual, and canonical heritage, distinguished from other heritages on the basis of cultural and historical circumstances. These are known as autonomous ("sui iuris") churches. The 1990 Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches defines such a church as follows: "A group of Christ's faithful hierarchically linked in accordance with law and given express or tacit recognition by the supreme authority of the Church is in this Code called an autonomous Church." There are 24 such autonomous Catholic churches: One Latin Church (i.e., Western) and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches", a distinction by now more historical than geographical. Although each of them has its own specific heritage, they are all in full communion with the Pope in Rome.
Unlike "families" or "federations" of churches formed through the grant of mutual recognition by distinct ecclesial bodies, the Catholic Church considers itself a single church ("full communion, "one Body") composed of a multitude of particular churches, each of which, as stated, is an embodiment of the fullness of the one Catholic Church. For the particular churches within the Catholic Church, whether autonomous ritual churches (e.g., Coptic Catholic Church, Melkite Catholic Church, Armenian Catholic Church, etc.) or dioceses (e.g., Archdiocese of Birmingham, Archdiocese of Chicago, etc.), are seen as not simply branches, divisions or sections of a larger body. Theologically, each is considered to be the embodiment in a particular place or for a particular community of the one, whole Catholic Church. "It is in these and formed out of them that the one and unique Catholic Church exists."

### Particular churches sui iuris

There are 24 autonomous churches: one Latin Church and twenty-three Eastern Catholic Churches, a distinction by now more historical than geographical. The term sui iuris means, literally, "of its own law", or self-governing. Although all of the particular churches espouse the same beliefs and faith, their distinction lies in their varied expression of that faith through their traditions, disciplines, and canon law. All are in communion with the Holy See.
For this kind of particular church, the 1983 Code of Canon Law uses the unambiguous phrase "autonomous ritual Church" (Latin: Ecclesia ritualis sui iuris). The 1990 Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, which is concerned principally with what the Second Vatican Council called "particular Churches or rites", shortened this to "autonomous Church" (Latin: Ecclesia sui iuris).

### Local particular churches

In Catholic teaching, each diocese (Latin Church term) or eparchy (Eastern term) is also a local or particular church, though it lacks the autonomy of the autonomous churches described above:
   A diocese is a section of the People of God entrusted to a bishop to be guided by him with the assistance of his clergy so that, loyal to its pastor and formed by him into one community in the Holy Spirit through the Gospel and the Eucharist, it constitutes one particular church in which the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of Christ is truly present and active.
The 1983 Code of Canon Law, which is concerned with the Latin Church alone and so with only one autonomous particular church, uses the term "particular Church" only in the sense of "local Church", as in its Canon 373:
   It is within the competence of the supreme authority alone to establish particular Churches; once they are lawfully established, the law itself gives them juridical personality.
The standard form of these local or particular churches, each of which is headed by a bishop, is called a diocese in the Latin Church and an eparchy in the Eastern churches. At the end of 2011, the total number of all these jurisdictional areas (or "sees") was 2,834.

#### Local particular church of Rome

The Holy See, the Diocese of Rome, is seen as the central local church. The bishop, the Pope, is considered to be, in a unique sense, the successor of Saint Peter, the chief (or "prince") of the apostles. Quoting the Second Vatican Council's document Lumen gentium, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter's successor, 'is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful.'"
All the Catholic particular churches, whether Latin or Eastern, local or autonomous—are by definition in full communion with the Holy See of Rome.

## Rites

The Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches defines "rite" as follows: "Rite is the liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary heritage, distinguished according to peoples' culture and historical circumstances, that finds expression in each autonomous church's way of living the faith."
As thus defined, "rite" concerns not only a people's liturgy (manner of worship), but also its theology (understanding of doctrine), spirituality (prayer and devotion), and discipline (canon law).
In this sense of the word "rite", the list of rites within the Catholic Church is identical with that of the autonomous churches, each of which has its own heritage, which distinguishes that church from others, and membership of a church involves participation in its liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary heritage. However, "church" refers to the people, and "rite" to their heritage.
The Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches states that the rites with which it is concerned (but which it does not list) spring from the following five traditions: Alexandrian, Antiochian, Armenian, Chaldean, and Constantinopolitan. Since it covers only Eastern Catholic churches and rites, it does not mention those of Western (Latin) tradition.
The word "rite" is sometimes used with reference only to liturgy, ignoring the theological, spiritual and disciplinary elements in the heritage of the churches. In this sense, "rite" has been defined as "the whole complex of the (liturgical) services of any Church or group of Churches". Between "rites" in this exclusively liturgical sense and the autonomous churches there is no strict correspondence, such as there is when "rite" is understood as in the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. The 14 autonomous churches of Byzantine tradition have a single liturgical rite, but vary mainly in liturgical language, while on the contrary the single Latin Church has several distinct liturgical rites, whose universal main form, the Roman Rite, is practised in Latin or in the local vernacular).

### Latin (Western) rites

* Extant
* Roman Rite
* Ordinary form of the Roman Rite
* Extraordinary form of the Roman Rite
* Anglican Use
* Zaire Use
* Adaptations for some Indigenous peoples of Mexico
* Gallican Rites
* Ambrosian Rite (in Milan, Italy, and neighbouring areas)
* Braga Rite (In Braga, Portugal)
* Rite of Lyon (in Lyon, France)
* Mozarabic Rite (in Toledo and Salamanca, Spain)
* Catholic order liturgical rites
* Benedictine Rite
* Carmelite Rite (only by some communities or members of the order)
* Carthusian Rite (a Western rite of the Gallican family)
* Cistercian Rite
* Dominican Rite (only by some communities or members of the order)
* Premonstratensian (Norbertine) Rite
* Rites in a broad sense (not distinct from the Roman Rite)
* Capuchin Rite
* Franciscan Rite
* Servite Rite
* Defunct
* African Rite
* Aquileian Rite (northeastern Italy)
* Benevente and Sizilian Use
* Celtic Rite (British Isles)
* Cologne Use (Cologne, Germany)
* Durham Rite (Durham, England)
* Esztergom Use (Hungary)
* Metz Use (Low Countries)
* Nidaros Use (Norway)
* Pre-Tridentine Mass (the various pre-1570 ordinary forms of the Roman Rite)
* Sarum Rite (Salisbury, England)
* Uppsala Use (Sweden)
* Use of York (York, England)

### Eastern rites

* Extant
* Byzantine Rite
* Antiochene family
* Malankara Rite
* Maronite Rite
* Syro-Antiochian Rite
* East Syriac or Chaldean tradition
* Chaldean Rite
* Syro-Malabar Rite
* Armenian Rite
* Alexandrian Rite
* Coptic Rite
* Geʽez Rite