BARBARSTRO, DIOCESE OF. - In the northern part of Spain in the province of Huesca, a suffragan of Saragozza. Located on the last foothills of the Pyrenees, at 332 m. above sea level, B. (about 9,000 inhabitants) was erected as a diocese in
1100. The first bishop was that of Roda with the title of B
Roda. After Lérida (v.) in 1149, B. was, after a long process, united with Huesca by Innocent III in 1203. The diocese was re-established on 18 June 1571, again united with Huesca by the concordat of 1851, and finally re-established in 1896. It is governed by a bishop with the title of apostolic administrator. Ten synodal constitutions were published from 1571 to 1715, and these remain in force to this day. In August 1936, 114 priests, constituting the majority of the secular clergy, and 67 religious, along with Bishop Mons. Florentino Asensio, were murdered by revolutionaries. The cathedral, built from 1500 to 1533, possesses a fine altarpiece by Damian Forment (16th century).The archive, which has been catalogued, begins in 1571. The seminary was founded in 1711. The diocese has an area of 4,000 sq. km., with 153 parishes, 47 diocesan priests and 16 regulars, and a population of 36,400 inhabitants, all Catholic (1948).
BIBL.: J. de la Canal, España Sagrada, XLVI, Madrid 1836; P. Sáinz de Baranda, España Sagrada, XLVIII, 1882; A. Lambert, s. V. in DHG, VI, cols. 594-614; J. Quibus, Misioneros Mártires, Barcelona 1941.