Titular see

A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbishop" (intermediary rank) or "titular bishop" (lowest rank), which normally goes by the status conferred on the titular see.

See also: Titular bishop, Titular church, and Archbishop § Titular archiepiscopal sees

Titular sees are dioceses that no longer functionally exist, often because the territory was conquered by Muslims or because it is schismatic. The Greek–Turkish population exchange of 1923 also contributed to titular sees. The see of Maximianoupolis along with the town that shared its name was destroyed by the Bulgarians under Emperor Kaloyan in 1207; the town and the see were under the control of the Latin Empire, which took Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. Parthenia, in north Africa, was abandoned and swallowed by desert sand.^[1]

Cardinals, who, being only priests, were promoted in Curia to be bishops.

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Nuncios, apostolic delegates and other dignitaries of the Curia, unless they were already diocesan bishops, and under the 1920 custom they were, in that case, translated to titular archbishoprics.

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Coadjutors and Auxiliary bishops.

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Apostolic vicars and, sometimes, on Apostolic prefects in missionary countries.

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Bishops who resign their dioceses, although this was not always done. Sometimes the Holy See refused to do so, and sometimes the bishops did not want it.

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Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy[edit]

The granting of titular sees is occasionally practised in the Eastern and other Orthodox churches.^[12]

List of Catholic titular sees

List of Catholic dioceses (structured view)

Titular church

Kiminas, Demetrius (2009). . Wildside Press LLC. ISBN 9781434458766.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate: A History of Its Metropolitanates with Annotated Hierarch Catalogs

by GCatholic.org ^{[self-published]}

List of all titular sees