CADIZ AND CEUTA, Diocese of. - Cadiz is a very ancient maritime city on the Atlantic, founded around 140 B.C. by the Phoenicians, who called it Gadir; the Romans conquered it in 203 B.C. and called it Gades; under Julius Caesar it became Julia Gaditana, under Augustus Augusta Gaditana, and in the Roman period it was the center of the conventus Gaditanus. It is believed that the ancient church of Asido corresponds to it, founded at Medina Sidonia after the Visigothic conquest. Its first bishop, Rufinus, appears at the second Council of Seville (A.D. 619). Bishop Pimenius took part in the three Councils of Toledo (IV, VI and VII, of the years 633, 638 and 646). The diocese was transferred to Cadiz in 1265, after having been for some time at Algeciras. When the city of Cadiz was destroyed in 1379 by Mohammed II, the episcopal see was brought back to Medina Sidonia; having returned once more to Cadiz, it remained there until 1596, when it had to emigrate again for a few months to Medina Sidonia because of the English raid on Cadiz, in which the English destroyed the Cathedral and took most of the Chapter prisoner. At present it is titled "C. and C.", the other diocese of Morocco, founded in 1841 and suppressed in 1851, having been united to that diocese.
The extent of the united diocese is 3,819 sq. km., with 460,004 inhabitants, of whom 446,991 are Catholics. It has 61 parishes served by 131 diocesan priests and 73 regulars. It is a suffragan of Seville. The patroness of the diocese is the Most Holy Virgin of the Rosary, by a vow made in 1630, renewed on 9 November 1755 and confirmed by Pius IX on 27 June 1867; the martyrs Servandus and Germanus (BHL, 7608) were proclaimed patrons on 21 October 1619, St. Joseph on 10 April 1707, St. Francis Xavier on 25 February 1706 and St. Roch on 15 November 1738.
The Cathedral, rebuilt after its original destruction, was completed in 1613 and rebuilt again from 1722 to 1855. It seems that St. Ferdinand, after the conquest of Cadiz, decided to erect it as a diocese, which was carried out by his son Alfonso X, who had the Franciscan Giovanni Martinez appointed first bishop. Four cardinals governed this diocese, namely Torquemada (v.), Carafa, Accolti and Zappata.