The Metropolitan Chapter

The cathedral chapter of Paderborn has emerged from the cathedral monastery founded 799 by Charlemagne and Pope Leo III. The thousend-year-old institution ended in 1810 by the secularization. It was re-founded according to the provisions of the papal bull De salute animarum of July 16, 1821. The Concordat between the Holy See and the Free State of Prussia in 1930 raised the cathedral chapter to the Metropolitan chapter in the Central German Church Province.

The tasks of the Metropolitan Chapter include the celebration of the liturgy in the High Cathedral, the preservation of the High Cathedral, the advice of the Archbishop and the exercise of the rights and duties of the College of Consultors, which participates in the administration of the archbishopric. In the case of vacancy of the Archbishop's Chair, it elects the diocesan administrator and above all the new archbishop.