Original: The area of the district OsnabrÃ 1\/4 ck has been confessionally mixed since Protestant Reformation and the Peace of Westphalia: Lutherans (Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Hanover) and Catholics (Roman Catholic Diocese of OsnabrÃ 1\/4 ck).
Simplified: When the clerical states of Germany were dissolved, OsnabrÃ 1\/4 ck became part of the Kingdom of Hanover, which in turn fell to Prussia in 1866. The district was established in 1972 by merging four old districts (OsnabrÃ 1\/4 ck, Melle, BersenbrÃ 1\/4 ck, Wittlage).