The Diocese of Chur is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Switzerland. It extends over the Swiss Cantons of Graubünden (Grisons), Schwyz, Glarus, Zurich, Nidwalden, Obwalden and Uri. The modern Catholic diocese must be distinguished from the historical Prince-Bishopric of Chur, a state of the Holy Roman Empire. History A Bishop of Chur is first mentioned in 451/ 452 when its Bishop Saint Asimo attended the Synod of Milan, but probably existed a century earlier. The see was at first suffragan to the Archbishop of Milan, but after the Treaty of Verdun (843) it became suffragan to Mainz. In consequence of political changes it became in 1803 immediately subject to the Holy See. According to local traditions, the first Bishop of Chur was Saint Lucius, who is said to have died a martyr at Chur around the year 176 and whose relics are preserved in the cathedral. St. Lucius is venerated as the principal patron of the diocese. The country had to pass through very severe struggles for the Christian faith. Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths, and the Lombards after him, attempted to introduce Arianism in the sixth and seventh centuries. The bishop soon acquired great temporal powers, especially after his dominions were made in 831 dependent on the Empire alone. In the dispute between Emperor Barbarossa and Pope Alexander III, Bishop Egino of Chur sided with the emperor and was rewarded with the dignity of Prince of the Empire in 1170. The bishop was also temporal lord of the city and in several cases a better warrior than pastor. The Prince-Bishopric of Chur became an independent state of the Holy Roman Empire, its borders being different from the borders of the diocese. In 1367, the League of God's House was formed by members of the cathedral chapter, the bishop's own ministerialis, the city of Chur, and a number of jurisdictions of the prince-bishopric. The reason was that Bishop Peter Jelito, who mostly stayed abroad, was suspected by his own subjects of planning to sell the prince-bishopric to the House of Habsburg, with a loss of independence looming. Instead, Peter then became Bishop of Leitomischl in 1368 and archbishop of Magdeburg in 1371. In 1392, the next prince-bishop became the nominal head of the League. The Grey League was founded in 1395, as a reaction to various feuds between the Bishopric of Chur and