Cartagena, Diocese of

CARTAGENA, Diocese of. - C., which comprises almost the whole of the provinces of Murcia and Albacete (Spain) as well as some towns of those of Alicante and Almeria, has an area of 21,002 sq. km. Its inhabitants (1,076,000) are all Catholics, distributed among 291 parishes. The diocesan priests number 290 and the religious 90; there are 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 origin cannot be determined. At the Council of Elvira (beginning of the 4th century), the priest Eutices signed in the name of the church of C. Also noteworthy are Hector, bishop of C., in 516, and Celsinus in 546, who presided over the Council of Valencia, St. Fulgentius (556), patron of the diocese, and Licinianus. After 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 of 610 reserved this title to the bishop of Toledo. After C. was reconquered in the time of Ferdinand III the Saint, the see of C. was re-established, immediately subject in 1251, and its bishop was Francisco Pedro Gallego. Bishop Diego Martínez Magaz obtained from Pope Nicholas III the transfer of the see from C. to Murcia in order to place it safe from African corsairs, which 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. are: the converted Jew Paul of St. Mary, later master of theology in Paris and bishop of C., author of a Summa de cronicas and of a Scrutinium Scripturarum; the celebrated professor at Paris and Salamanca Juan Martínez Silíceo was also bishop of C. before being promoted archbishop of Toledo. Bishop Antonio Trejo requested from the Holy See as early as 1627 the dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception. The most illustrious of the bishops of C. was Luis Belluga Moncada (1704-24), who supported Philip V against the claims of Archduke Charles of Austria and generously established numerous churches and charitable houses. He was therefore created cardinal in 1719, but after 5 years he renounced the bishopric and retired to Rome, where he died in a reputation for great piety, so that Benedict XIV called him "the honor of the Sacred College."

MONUMENTS

For C.: on the site of the ancient cathedral, the church of St. Mary the Ancient, almost entirely rebuilt in 1904, with sculptures by F. Salzillo (1707-48) which are also in the church of St. Dominic and of St. Mary of Grace. The cathedral of Murcia, begun in the 14th century, finished in the 15th, with three naves and a Latin-cross plan, is a fine example of Gothic style, with its tower 90 m. high, famous throughout Spain, its valuable choir stalls from the monastery of St. Martin of Valdeiglesias, its main façade, partly Baroque and partly Neoclassical, while the southern one is by Antonio Gil (1440), and the "Vélez" chapel, a national monument. In the church of the Gesù are preserved the sculptures of Salzillo, representing the Passion of Christ. Also noteworthy in the diocese of C. are the church of St. Patrick at Lorca, that of St. James at Jumilla, and the grandiose church of St. John at Albacete.

Ramón Rodríguez