ANGELÓPOLIS, ARCHDIOCESE OF. — It is the oldest diocese in Mexico, having been erected by Clement VII with the bull *Devotionis tuae* on 13 Oct. 1525. Initially it had its see in Tlaxcala, whence it was transferred to Puebla de los Angeles in 1550. It was raised to the rank of archdiocese in 1903. To date it has been governed by 32 bishops and 3 archbishops. The archdiocese is divided into 172 parishes. The clergy consists of 273 secular priests and 52 regulars. The seminary is named after the celebrated bishop Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, who reorganized it toward the middle of the 17th century.
The first to evangelize the region were the Franciscans, followed later by the Dominicans and the Jesuits. Among the numerous shrines of the archdiocese (about twenty), special importance attaches to that of Our Lady of Ocotlán, near the city of Tlaxcala. Among the religious monuments, special mention should be made of: the convent of St Barbara, where St Philip of Jesus, proto-martyr of the Franciscans in Mexico, and Fr Vicente de San José, later a martyr in Japan, lived; the chapels of the Rosary in the church of St Dominic, in the Churrigueresque style; the church of St Francis, which preserves the incorrupt body of the Blessed Sebastian de Aparicio, a Spanish Franciscan; the church of La Vera Cruz, in whose convent another celebrated Spanish Franciscan, Fr Toribio de Benavente, called Motolinia, lived—greatly venerated by the Indians, of whom he was a great benefactor, defender, and historian; the church of the Holy Spirit, decorated by the celebrated Jesuit Carrasco; and the cathedral, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception and raised to the rank of minor basilica by Pius X in 1910. This distinguished monument is in the Spanish Renaissance style, and its construction, begun in 1539, continued until 1641.
Suffragan dioceses of A. are: Huejutla, Huajuapan, Papantla; court of appeal: Mexico.