BADAJOZ, Diocese of. - In Spain, suffragan of Seville. The episcopal city is the most important in Extremadura and the capital of a vast province. As a diocese B. appears for the first time in 903-904 and still existed in the year 1000; it was probably erected in the 9th century, perhaps succeeding Emerita, Mérida (v.). After the city was reconquered following the expulsion of the Moors around 1227-30, the diocese was also restored. Owing to difficulties that arose with the Military Orders of St. James, of Calatrava, of the Temple and of the Hospital, the boundaries of the new diocese were not fixed until 1256 and 1257. The aforesaid Orders held jurisdiction until the 19th century over the parishes of the castles and towns they had taken from the Arabs. The bishop's relations with the Orders gave rise to frequent conflicts until 1874, when the aforesaid Orders were placed under a titular bishop residing in Ciudad Real. It suffered greatly from wars, especially in the 14th and 17th centuries (1640-68), and lost some parishes that passed under Portugal. Among its bishops were distinguished the Dominican Giovanni Morales (1415-43), ambassador of Castile at the Council of Constance, who held a Synod in 1419 and built several churches; Alonso Manrique de Lara (1499-1516), later cardinal; Francesco de Navarra (1545-56), who took part in the Council of Trent; Cristoforo de Rojas (1556-63); b. Giovanni de Ribera (1562-68) (v.); Agostino Antolinez (1675-77), who died in the odour of sanctity.
Giovanni M. del Rodezno (1681-1706), Amador Merino Malaguilla (1730-55) and Emanuele Pérez Minayo (1755-79) carried out artistic and social works. It has an area of 16,350 sq km and 650,000 inhabitants, all Catholics; 151 parishes, 231 diocesan priests and 78 regulars (1948). It is a suffragan of Seville. During the last civil war, 28 priests, 6 religious and 2 seminarians were killed. The monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe is famous. Also to be remembered are the Cathedral (13th-14th century) and the Gothic cloister (1509-20). In the chapter hall converted into a museum, paintings by Ribera, Zurbarán and others are preserved. It has a major seminary and two minor ones. The first was founded in 1664 by G. Rodríguez de Valderas, but the present building is the work of Bishop Minayo (1770-79), enlarged in the 19th century. It possesses a library open to the public with 17,000 volumes.