Barcelona, Diocese of

BARCELONA, Diocese of. - Concerning the Celtiberian or Carthaginian city of B., the Barcino of the Roman era, the documents are silent even in the 3rd century. Lamenting this lack, certain national writers of the early modern period attempted to make up for it with hypotheses and legendary accounts, chiefly concerning the origins of the diocese, providing a wholly arbitrary list of bishops. It seems that a bishop of Barcelona cannot be identified before the middle of the 4th century, the era in which trustworthy documents record a Praetextatus, companion of the famous Hosius of Cordoba at the Council of Sardica. Indeed, it is not entirely certain that a previous companion of Hosius named Olympius was bishop of B., and even less so that a St. Severus, supposed martyr of the 3rd century, was, being confused with a prelate of the same name of Ravenna. Glories of the same see in the 4th century are the learned St. Pacian and his successor Lampius, who ordained as priest St. Paulinus of Nola; Ugnus, in the 6th century, an Arian converted together with King Reccared and with the whole nation, who celebrated a council in 599; Idalius, dean of the bishops in 688; Frodoinus, who found the body of St. Eulalia in 877; Aetius, who died in the battle of Cordoba (1010) against the Moors, and in the same century Ghisalbert, who in 1058 solemnly dedicated the cathedral; St. Oldegarius and Bernard of Berga in the 12th century, the latter of whom took part in the Third Lateran Council. The diocese of B. is a suffragan of Tarragona. The bishop of B. has recently obtained the privilege of the pallium.

Great difficulty is offered by the determination of the ancient boundaries of this diocese, a part of which remained detached from 450 to 712 under the vanished bishopric of Egara (Tarrasa). At present the diocese of B. has an extent of 3548 sq. km. and 2,000,000 inhabitants, almost all Catholics, with 718 diocesan priests, who work in 322 parishes. There are furthermore 682 regular priests (1948).

SAINTS, CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES

Besides the holy bishops mentioned above, the following are held in great veneration in Barcelona: St. Eulalia, celebrated on February 12, while the namesake of Merida is celebrated on December 10. For Delehaye these are two feasts for a single martyr (Martyr. Hieronymianum, p. 90, n. 35). St. Cucuphas, mentioned by Prudentius: Barcino claro Cucufate freta surget (Peristeph., IV, 33), by the Hieronymian Martyrology on February 16 and by the Mozarabic liturgy on July 25. Furthermore St. Raymond of Peñafort (1275), who was a canon of Barcelona, and St. Joseph Oriol (1702; v.)

The ancient cathedral of Barcelona, Holy Cross, was transformed into a mosque by the Arabs; after the reconquest by the Franks in 801, Bishop Frodoino in the year 877 began its reconstruction, transferring there the following year the relics of St. Eulalia. It was ruined in the invasion of 985 and was rebuilt between 1048-58 by Bishop Ghisalberto and Count Ramón-Berengario I. The altar of St. Andrew dates from 1173, that of St. Mark from 1203 and that of the Three Virgins from 1271. On May 1, 1299 James II laid the first stone of the new cathedral, which was completed only in 1430; it has three naves in the Gothic-Catalan style, with two octagonal towers on the outside. Beneath the high altar in the crypt is the rich sarcophagus with the remains of St. Eulalia, who is the second titular of the cathedral. It also contains the tomb of St. Ollegarius (1115). The adjoining cloister is from the 15th century. In 1948 the remains of the primitive cathedral were rediscovered, which occupied the same area as the present one, minus the apse.

Very ancient is the church of St. Paul del Campo, founded together with the monastery toward the end of the 11th century, mentioned in a privilege granted on December 1, 1098 to Abbot Berengario of St. Cucuphas; it is in the form of a Greek cross, with three apses and an octagonal dome in the center; the facade still contains original ornaments and the cloister is adorned with artistic capitals.

The seven oldest parishes of Barcelona are: 1) St. Mary of the Sea or de las Arenas, erected on the site of the finding of the relics of St. Eulalia (878); it presents itself as a Gothic church with three naves datable between 1329 and 1377; 2) St. Saturninus, already existing in 945, when the nearby abbey of Sant Pere de les Puelles of Benedictine nuns was founded. The church and the monastery were destroyed in 985, restored in 991. The church was reconsecrated in 1147; damaged in 1909; 3) St. Michael, known in documents of the 11th century, transferred from 1835 to the church of La Merced; 4) St. James, mentioned in the 12th century; 5) St. Cucuphas del Horno, founded by Ghisalberto before he was bishop. The church rebuilt in 1827 burned in 1909; 6) St. Mary del Pi or del Pino, a construction of the 15th century, officiated by G. Oriol, later canonized; 7) Saints Justus and Pastor near the cathedral: the present church is from 1345.

The national sanctuary of Catalonia is the church of La Merced, in which is kept the effigy of the Madonna who appeared to St. Peter Nolasco and to St. Raymond and to King James for the foundation of the order of La Merced. Our Lady of Mercy is the patroness of the city and of the diocese of Barcelona; her feast is on September 24.

Other notable churches are: St. Anne, begun in 1151, completed in 1507, with a single nave in the form of a Latin cross; the church and monastery of St. Catherine with a cloister from the 15th century; the chapel of St. George (15th century) in the Palace of the Provincial Deputation. Among the Baroque churches, those of St. Severus and of Bethlehem are remembered. On the Tibidabo that overlooks the city a votive church is rising, suggested by St. John Bosco; another expiatory one is that still under construction dedicated to the Holy Family, begun by Villar and continued by Antonio Gaudí. Ancient monasteries were those of: St. Eulalia del Campo, St. Mary of Pedralbes, St. Vincent of Garrag or de Petra bona (today Silges) founded by Alfonso II in 1163; St. Cucuphas del Valles, St. Lawrence del Munt, St. Michael del Fay, etc.

At Tarrasa there still remains a group of three churches which in their present form date partly to the 9th and partly to the 12th century, but with some more ancient elements: the church of St. Mary, the ancient cathedral, with a semicircular apse on the inside and a rectangular enclosure on the outside (there were found remains of a mosaic pavement of the 6th century); near it the church of St. Michael which served as a baptistery, a quadrilateral construction with a polygonal apse; third, the church of St. Peter. During the restorations in the episcopal palace of Barcelona carried out in 1933, decorative sculptures were found in the courtyard belonging, like the adjoining cloister, to the 12th century. Besides the episcopal archive and that of the city, Barcelona possesses the highly interesting archive of the crown of Aragon, of primary importance for medieval history.

In the museum of Catalan art is gathered a series of frescoes coming from ancient churches such as St. Mary of Tahull (beginning of the 12th century), St. Clement of Tahull (1123), Pedret (first half of the 12th century), Sorpe (12th century), St. Michael de la Seo, St. Martin of Fenellar.

The municipal archaeological museum is housed in the ancient church of St. Agatha. There are two Christian sarcophagi (Wilpert, Sarcofagi, I, pls. 89, 7 and 90, 3, 5).

Enrico Josi

COUNCILS

We have record of two councils of Barcelona held during the Visigothic domination of Spain: one around 540, the other in 599. The first was attended by seven bishops of the province of Tarraconensis, who promulgated ten decrees concerning the liturgy, the clergy, public penance and the monks.

At the second, held under the presidency of the metropolitan Asiaticus of Tarragona, twelve bishops took part (among them two from Tortosa, namely the Catholic Julian and Froisolus, recently converted together with other Arians, and the famous John of Biclaro of Gerona), who signed four canons on simony, the interstices of the clergy and the vow of chastity of virgins.

Other councils of lesser importance were held at B. after its liberation from the Saracen yoke, namely in 906 (with the sovereign count Guifred and the archbishop of Narbonne present, against whom the bishop of Vich rose up), in 1009, in 1054 and in 1068, at which the suppression of the Visigothic liturgy was decreed, a suppression that only came into force in 1071.

BALMES LIBRARY

A center of higher religious culture created by Fr. Ignasi Casanovas (v.), a Jesuit, in 1923 as a section of the Foment de Pietat (an organization promoting Catalan religious literature, founded in 1913 by the priest Mossèn Eudald Serra y Buixò).

Its activity extends beyond the modern library to periodic lectures, courses in advanced religious culture for the laity, and publications. Among these, mention should be made of the Obras completas of Balmes edited by Fr. Casanovas (33 vols., 1925-26), the Obres completes of the Bishop of Vich Dr. Josep Torras y Bages, patriarch of modern Catholic Catalonia (30 vols., 1935, still in course of publication), and the Biblioteca histórica de la Bibl. Balmes, in which appeared, among others, the fundamental studies of Fr. Casanovas on Balmes (3 vols., 1932) and on José Finestres and Catalan culture of the 18th century, interesting for its relations with Italy, chiefly after the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767 (3 vols., 1933-35); the work of Fr. Art. Codina, a Jesuit, on the Origenes de los Ejercicios espirituales de san Ignacio de Loyola (1925), that of the priest Sanp Capdevila on La Seu de Tarragona (1935), the Episcopologio de la sede barcinonese of Canon Seb. Puig (1929) with many documents on Pope Luna, the fortune of Shakespeare en la lit. española by Alfonso Par (2 vols., 1935), Francisco de Vitoria y la doctrina de la gracia en la escuela salmantina (1934) by F. Stegmüller, etc.

The periodical publication of the Balmes Library is Analecta Sacra Tarraconensia, which appeared from 1925 to 1931 in the form of large annual volumes, and was continued thereafter as a journal; from 1928 the librarian J. Vives has been publishing the Bibliografia hispánica de ciencias histórico-eclesiásticas, an indispensable repertory for all who are interested in the history of the Church in Spain. Among the most assiduous contributors are P. Batlle, J. M. Bover, J. Carreras y Artau, P. Ginebra, E. Junyent, J. M. Madurell, F. Mateu, F. Miquel, B. Pascual, J. Rius y Serra, J. Sanchis y Sivera, F. Segarra, J. Serra y Villaró, F. Valls, M. B., besides the foreigners G. M. Bertini, A. Ferrua, J. Wilpert, H. Finke, J. Vincke, G. Schreiber, K. Bihlmeyer, J. Lebreton, A. Mallon, J. Viellard, B. de Gaiffier, G. de Tervarent.

In 1939 the institution took the name Balmesiana, behind which the Balmes Library is a section; its directors general have been, successively, Fr. F. M. Palmés and Fr. C. de Dalmases, a Jesuit. The Analecta immediately resumed the same life as before, as did the Biblioteca histórica and the Filosófica, in addition to the new Biblioteca teológica and the Obras of Fr. Casanovas, in Spanish (18 vols., 1942... still in course of publication). Among the most recent publications, those of special interest to Italy are J. Serra y Villaró's San Próspero de Tarragona y sus discípulos refugiados en Italia el año 711 (1943), and M. B.'s Francisco Gustá: Barcellona 1744-Palermo 1816 (1942).

Until 1936 an Officina románica also operated there, with its Annari and its Biblioteca, under the direction of Fr. José Calveras, a Jesuit.