BARBASTRO, DIOCESE of. - In the northern part of Spain, in the province of Huesca, suffragan of Saragozza. Situated on the last foothills of the Pyrenees, 332 m. above sea level, B. (c. 9,000 inhab.) was erected as a diocese in
1100. Its first bishop was that of Roda, with the title of B
Roda. When Lérida (v.) in 1149, B., after a lengthy process, was united to Huesca by Innocent III in 1203. The diocese was re-established on 18 June 1571, again united to 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 are still in force. In Aug. 1936, 114 priests, constituting the greater part of the secular clergy, and 67 religious, together with the bishop, Msgr. Florentino Asensio, were murdered by revolutionaries. The cathedral, built from 1500 to 1533, possesses a fine «retablo» by Damiano Forment (16th cent.).The catalogued archive 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 Catholics (1948).
BIBL.: J. de la Canal, España Sagrada, XLVI, Madrid 1856; P. Sáinz de Baranda, España Sagrada, XLVIII, ibid. 1862; A. Lambert, s. V. in DHG, VI, cols. 594-614; J. Quibus, Misioneros Mártires, Barcellona 1941. Giovanni Meseguer