page_title: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wrocław
section_title: Within Prussia (main part) and Bohemia (lesser part)
hierarchical_section_title: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wrocław / History / Within Prussia (main part) and Bohemia (lesser part)
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Biskup wrocławski Joseph Knauer
context_page_description: The Archdiocese of Wrocław is a Latin Rite archdiocese of the Catholic Church centered in the capital city Wrocław in Poland. From its founding as a bishopric in 1000 until 1821, it was under the Archbishopric of Gniezno in Greater Poland. From 1821 to 1930 it was subjected directly to the Apostolic See. Between 1821 and 1972 it was officially known as Diocese of Breslau.
context_section_description: The next prince-bishop, Philip, Count von Sinzendorf, Cardinal and Bishop of Raab (1732–1747), owed his elevation to the favour of the emperor. During his episcopate, the greater part of the diocese was added to the Kingdom of Prussia during the Silesian Wars. King Frederick II of Prussia (Frederick the Great) desired to erect a "Catholic Vicariate" at Berlin, to be the highest spiritual authority for the Catholics of Prussia. This would have been in reality a separation from Rome, and the project failed through the opposition of the Holy See. Bishop Sinzendorf had neither the acuteness to perceive the inimical intent of the king's scheme, nor sufficient decision of character to withstand it. The king desired to secure a successor to Sinzendorf who would be under royal influence. In utter disregard of the principles of the Church, and heedless of the protests of the cathedral chapter, he presented Count Philipp Gotthard von Schaffgotsch as coadjutor-bishop.
  After the death of Cardinal Sinzendorf the king succeeded in the placement of Schaffgotsch as Bishop of Breslau (1748–95). Although the method of his elevation caused the new bishop to be regarded with suspicion by many strict Catholics, he was zealous in the fulfilment of his duties. During the Seven Years' War he fell into discredit with Frederick on account of his firm maintenance of the rights of the Church, and the return of peace did not fully restore him to favour. In 1766 he fled to the Austrian part of his diocese in order to avoid confinement in Oppeln which the king had decreed against him. After this Frederick made it impossible for him to rule the Prussian part of his diocese, and until the death of the bishop this territory was ruled by vicars Apostolic.
  The former coadjutor of von Schaffgotsch, Joseph Christian, Prince von Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Bartenstein (1795–1817), succeeded him as bishop. During his episcopate the temporal power of the Bishops of Breslau came to an end through the secularization, in 1810, of the church estates in Prussian Silesia – only the estates in Austrian Silesia remained to the see. The cathedral foundation, eight collegiate foundations, and over eighty monasteries were suppressed, and their property confiscated. Only those monastic institutions which were occupied with teaching or nursing were allowed to exist.
  Bishop Joseph Christian was succeeded by his coadjutor, Emmanuel von Schimonsky. The affairs of the Catholic Church in Prussia had been brought into order by the Bull "De salute animarum", issued in 1821. Under its provisions the cathedral chapter elected Schimonsky, who had been administrator of the diocese, as Prince-Bishop of Breslau (1824–1832).
  The bull disentangled Breslau diocese from Gniezno ecclesiastical province and made Breslau an exempt bishopric. The bull also reconfined the Breslau diocesan area which from then on remained unchanged until 1922. Breslau diocese then included the bulk of the Catholic parishes in the Prussian Province of Silesia with the exception of Catholic parishes in the districts of Ratibor and Leobschütz, which until 1972 belonged to the Archdiocese of Olomouc, and Catholic parishes in the Prusso-Silesian County of Glatz, which were subject to the Diocese of Hradec Králové within the Archdiocese of Prague until 1972. The Breslau Diocese included the Catholic parishes in the Duchy of Teschen and the Austrian part of the Principality of Neisse. The bull also assigned the Prussian-annexed parts of the Apostolic Prefecture of Meissen in Lower Lusatia (politically part of Prussian Brandenburg since 1815) and eastern Upper Lusatia (to Silesia province as of 1815) to Breslau diocese.
  With the exception of the districts of Bütow and Lauenburg (Pommern), until 1922 both part of the Diocese of Culm, the rest of Brandenburg and Pomerania province were, since 1821, supervised by the Prince-Episcopal Delegation for Brandenburg and Pomerania (German: Fürstbischöfliche Delegatur für Brandenburg und Pommern, Polish: Książęco-biskupia Delegatura Brandenburgii i Pomorza).
  Schimonsky retained for himsel
caption: Prince-Bishop Joseph Knauer, 49th bishop of the see
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