Suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Olmutz, embracing the
south-western part of Moravia, an area of 3825 sq. m., and
containing, according to the "Catalogus cleri Dioceseos
Brunensis 1907", about 1,051,654 inhabitants, 1,000,607 of whom
are Catholics. The erection of the Diocese of Brünn was due to
Empress Maria Theresa. The territory comprised in this diocese
belonged from a very early period to the Diocese of Olmutz. To
obviate the difficulties arising from the administration of such
a vast territory, Maria Theresa in 1773 entered into
negotiations with Pope Clement XIV . Olmutz was to be raised to
the rank of an archbishopric and two newly created bishoprics —
Brünn and Troppau — assigned it as suffragans. Eventually,
however, only one was created. By a papal Bull of Pius VI, dated
5 December, 1777, Olmutz was made an archbishopric and Brünn
erected into an episcopal see. The collegiate chapter of the
provostship of Sts. Peter and Paul which had been in existence
in Brünn since 1296 was constituted the