CARTAGENA, DIOCESE of. – C., which comprises almost the whole of the provinces of Murcia and Albacete (Spain), as well as a few towns in those of Alicante and Almeria, covers an area of 21,002 sq. km. The inhabitants (1,076,000) are all Catholic, distributed among 291 parishes. There are 290 diocesan priests and 90 religious, and 2 seminaries (1948); the episcopal residence is in Murcia.
An ancient tradition makes C. the first diocese established in Spain. Historically, however, the chronology of the diocese’s origins cannot be determined. At the Council of Elvira (early 4th century), the presbyter Eutices subscribed in the name of the church of C. Also recorded are Hector, bishop of C. in 516, and Celsinus in 546, who presided over the Council of Valencia, St. Fulgens (556), patron of the diocese, and Licinianus. Following the destruction of C. by the Vandals (425), both C. and Toledo were called metropolises of the province of C., until the Council of Toledo in 610 reserved this title for the bishop of Toledo. After C. was reconquered in the time of Ferdinand III the Saint, the see of C. was re-established, becoming immediately subject in 1251, and Francesco Pietro Gallego was made its bishop. Bishop Diego Martínez Magaz obtained from Pope Nicholas III the transfer of the see from C. to Murcia, to place it beyond the reach of African corsairs; this was decreed in 1289. Under Pius IV, the diocese of C. was divided, giving rise to the new diocese of Orihuela. By virtue of the Concordat of 1851, the diocese of C. became a suffragan of Granada.
Illustrious figures of C. include the converted Jew Paolo di S. Maria, later professor of theology in Paris and bishop of C., author of a Summa de
cronicas and of a Scrutinium Scripturarum; the celebrated professor in Paris and Salamanca Giovanni Martínez Silicco was also bishop of C. before being promoted to archbishop of Toledo. As early as 1627, Bishop Antonio Trexo petitioned the Holy See for the dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception. The most illustrious of the bishops of C. was Luigi Belluga Moncada (1704–24), who supported Philip V against the claims of Archduke Charles of Austria and generously established numerous churches and charitable institutions. He was therefore created a cardinal in 1719, but after five years he resigned the bishopric and retired to Rome, where he died renowned for his great piety; accordingly, Benedict XIV called him “the honor of the Sacred College.”
MONUMENTS. – In C.: on the site of the ancient cathedral, the church of S. Maria antica, almost entirely rebuilt in 1904, with sculptures by F. Salcillo (1707–48), which are also found in the church of S. Domenico and that of S. Maria della Grazia. The cathedral of Murcia, begun in the 14th century and completed in the 15th, with three naves and a Latin-cross plan, is a fine example of Gothic style, with its 90-metre tower, famous throughout Spain; its valuable choir stalls, brought from the monastery of S. Martino di Valdeiglesias; its principal façade, partly Baroque and partly neoclassical, while the southern one is by Antonio Gil (1440); and the chapel of the “Vélez,” a national monument. The church of Gesù preserves Salcillo’s sculptures representing the Passion of Christ. Also noteworthy in the diocese of C. are the church of S. Patrizio at Lorja, that of S. Giacomo at Jumilla, and the magnificent church of S. Giovanni at Albacete.
Ramón Rodríguez