Patras was a metropolitan see in Achaia, Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. It is now a Catholic titular see

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 bishop", "titular metropolitan", or "titular archbishop"....

.

History

Patras was dependent on Rome until 733, when it became subject to the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Nothing is known of the beginning of Christianity in the city of Patras

Patras

Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens...

, unless we accept the tradition that it was evangelized by the Apostle St. Andrew. A celebrated Stylite lived there in the tenth century, to whom St. Luke the Younger went to be trained.

In 1205 William of Champlitte

William of Champlitte

William I of Champlitte was a French knight who joined the Fourth Crusade and became the first prince of Achaea .- Early years and the Fourth Crusade :...

 took possession and installed canons; they in turn elected Anthelme, a monk of Cluny

Cluny

Cluny or Clungy is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne in eastern France. It is 20 km northwest of Mâcon.The town grew up around the Benedictine Cluny Abbey, founded by Duke William I of Aquitaine in 910...

, as archbishop. The territory formed a barony subject to the Aleman family and included in the principality of Morea

Morea

The Morea was the name of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. It also referred to a Byzantine province in the region, known as the Despotate of Morea.-Origins of the name:...

 or Achaia.

The Latin archbishops held it from the second half of the thirteenth century till 1408, when they sold it to Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

. In 1429 it again fell into the power of the Greeks, and was taken by the Turks in 1460.

Greek see

The Greek see, first dependent on Corinth, became a metropolitan see in the ninth century. It had four suffragans; then five about 940; after 1453 it had only two, which successively disappeared. Its titulars were called Metropolitans of Patras from the ninth century until the Middle Ages, Metropolitans of Old Patras until 1833, Bishops of Achaia until 1852, Archbishops of Patras and Eleia from that time.

The list of its titulars has been compiled by Le Quien, Heinrich Gelzer

Heinrich Gelzer

Not to be confused with the German classical scholar Matthias Gelzer, who wrote on Julius Caesar and the Late Roman Republic.Heinrich Gelzer was a German classical scholar. He wrote also on Armenian mythology. He was the son of the Swiss historian Johann Heinrich Gelzer...

, Jules Pargoire.

Latin see

The Latin archdiocese, created in 1205, lasted until 1441, when it became a titular see. It had five suffragans, Andravida

Andravida

Andravída is a town and a former municipality in Elis, West Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Andravida-Kyllini, of which it is a municipal unit. Its population is about 4,300. Distance from Patras is around 63 km SW and 33 km NW of...

, Amyclæ, Modone, Corone, and Cephalonia-Zante; even when Modone and Corone belonged to the Venetians they continued to depend on Patras.

The list of Latin titulars has been drawn up by Le Quien, Eubel, and Gerland.

Later history

In 1640 the Jesuits established themselves at Patras, and in 1687 the Franciscans and Carmelites. In the nineteenth century the pope confided the administration of the Peloponnesus to the Bishop of Zante, in 1834 to the Bishop of Syra.