AYACUCHO, DIOCESE of. — In the Republic of Peru, department of A., suffragan of Cuzco. It extends across the southern part of Peru, between the ancient city of Cuzco and the Pacific Ocean, with a population of 553,255 souls, divided into 63 parishes, served by 63 diocesan priests. It was erected on 20 July 1609 by Paul V, with the bull Divinae Maiestatis arbitrio, through the division of the diocese of Cuzco. For more than two centuries it was called Huamanga; in 1837, under the pontificate of Gregory XVI, since the residential city, following the famous battle “of the American nations,” had assumed the name A. (1825), the diocese too took its present designation. From its foundation to the present day it has been administered by 30 bishops. Four synods have been celebrated, in the years 1672, 1906, 1912, and 1918; the last three by the same bishop, Msgr. Olivas Escudero, who governed the diocese for forty years and was, without doubt, one of its most illustrious pastors.
A. is the city of Peru in which the most extensive traces of Spanish piety and splendor have remained. Among the churches, it will suffice to mention: S. Cristóbal (1541), S. Clara (1568), and the cathedral (1632). Many churches had a convent or religious house attached to them, all now suppressed except the monastery of S. Clara, which has given the Church of Peru venerable women and servants of God, and that of the Carmelites. Recently, the Franciscans built a convent (1898), and the Redemptorists opened a house there (1913). In the ancient city of Huancavelica, during the colonial period, there existed the convents of S. Dominic, S. Francis, S. Augustine, S. John of God, and a college of
Jesuits, all now suppressed. During the episcopate of Msgr. Cristóbal Castillo y Zamora, ninth bishop of A., the University of S. Cristóbal was founded (1677); inaugurated in 1704, it carried on considerable cultural activity until 1878. Also in 1677, a Jesuit college was founded, which soon acquired great fame, having been raised to university rank, with the privileges of the most celebrated Spanish universities. In 1768, the building of this university college, after the Jesuits had been expelled from the Spanish colonies (1767), was occupied by the seminary of S. Cristóbal, founded as early as 1680.
AYGLIER (AILIER), BERNARDO: V. AGELIO.