Roman Catholic Diocese of Wiener Neustadt
Suppressed diocese of the Catholic Church in Austria
The former Diocese of Wiener Neustadt in Lower Austria existed from 1469 to 1785. In 1990, it was re-established as a titular see which is held by the bishop for the Military Services in Austria.
History
Upon the request of the Emperor Frederick III, the diocese was created by Pope Paul II on 14 January 1469, and was immediately subject to the Holy See. At first it was coterminous with the town of Wiener Neustadt.
In 1769 the new parish of Theresienfeld was added and in 1784 its territory was extended from Wiener-Neustadt to the boundary of Styria. On 21 April 1785, the see was incorporated in the Archdiocese of Vienna by Emperor Joseph II. Its last bishop, Johann Heinrich von Kerens, S.J. (1775–1785), and his cathedral chapter were transferred to the newly erected Diocese of Sankt Pölten.
Cathedral
The Late-Romanesque Dom or cathedral was consecrated in 1279 and remained the cathedral from 1469 to 1785. The choir stalls and transept, in Gothic style, are from the 14th century. In the late 15th century 12 statues of the Apostles were added in the apse, while the bust of Cardinal Melchior Klesl is attributed to Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Diocesan Bishops
Michael Altkind (Apostolic Administrator 1469–1475)
Petrus Engelprecht (1476–1491)
Augustin Kiebinger (1491–1495)
Theoderich Kammerer (1521–1530)
Johann Fabri (Coadjutor bishop 1524–1530)
Gregor Angerer (1531–1548)
Heinrich Muelich (1549–1550)
Christoph Wertwein (Apostolic Administrator 1550–1553)
Franz Abstemius (1555–1558)
Martin Durlacher (1558–1559)
Kaspar von Logau (1560–1562)
Christian Napponäus (1564–1571)
Lambert Gruter (1572–1582)
Martin Radwiger (1587–1588)
Melchior Khlesl (Apostolic Administrator 1588–1630; also Bishop of Vienna and cardinal (1598–1630)
Matthias Geißler (1631–1639)
Johannes Thuanus (1639–1666)
Laurenz Aidinger (1666–1669)
Leopold Karl von Kollonitsch (1669–1686), later Bishop of Raab
Christoph de Rojas y Spinola (1685–1695)
Franz Anton von Puchheim (1695–1718)
Ignaz von Lovina (1718–1720)
Joseph Ignaz della Rovere (1720–1721)
Johann Moritz Gustav von Manderscheid-Blankenheim (1721–1734), later Archbishop of Prague
Johann Franz Anton von Khevenhüller (1734–1740)
Ferdinand Michael Cyriakus von Hallweil (1741–1773)
Johann Heinrich von Kerens (1773–1785), became first Bishop of Sankt Pölten
Titular Bishops
Alfred Kostelecky (1990–1994), bishop of the Military Ordinariate of Austria
Christian Werner (1997–present), bishop of the Military Ordinariate of Austria
Sources
Wiedermann, Beitrage zur Gesch.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Roman Catholic Diocese of Wiener Neustadt” is suppressed diocese of the Catholic Church in Austria. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Roman, Catholic and Diocese, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “suppressed diocese of the Catholic Church in Austria” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1231931. VIAF identifies the subject as 239936272. Authority coordinates are 47.815, 16.242. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1469, 1785, 1990 and 1769.
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This entry incorporates text from “Roman Catholic Diocese of Wiener Neustadt” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.