Chronology of Catholic Dioceses:Notes on the Apostolic Administration of Caucasus 1926

This Apostolic Administration, as well as the others erected within the Soviet Union in 1926, were internal divisions/arrangements within the already existant jurisdictions for Russia. The the Apostolic Administration of Caucasus, covering part of the diocese of Tiraspol, included Dagestan, Chechen, Kabardino-Balkarsk, and probably all of the Stavropol oblast'. Thus, a more accurate name of the Administration would have been "Northern Caucasus".

The residence of the Apostolic Administrator was meant to be Pyatigorsk (in Stavropol oblast').

The Apostolic Administrator for this Administration, Fr. Johann Roth, was appointed on 23 May 1926 by the clandestine bishop Michel d'Herbigny S.J., titular bishop of Ilion, the delegate of Pope Pius IX in the Soviet Union. D'Herbigny had met this Volga German parish priest in "Karlsruhe", a Volga-German village. The Ap. Administration suffered under Soviet prosecution, and soon collapsed - Fr. Roth was arrested in August 1930.

(Sources: Research of Lovell and Hilkens, and the works of Stehle and Adriányi)

- CT