Chillán, Diocese of

CHILLÁN, Diocese of. - In Chile, suffragan of the Most Holy Conception. Erected on 18 Oct. 1925, it comprises the province of Nuble and part of that of Maule, with an area of 11,564 sq km and a population of about 287,279 inhabitants, of whom 258,552 are Catholics, divided into 26 parishes. The clergy consists of 35 secular priests and 40 regulars; there is a small seminary (1948).

There are numerous male religious families (Franciscans, Dominicans, Mercedarians, Jesuits [who in C. had their novitiate until 1938, now transferred to Santiago], Trinitarians, Redemptorists, Carmelites). Of the female congregations: the sisters of the institute of the B. Virgin Mary, who direct a secondary school in C., the sisters of the Purissima, of the Good Shepherd of Angers, the Hospitaller sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, etc. The diocesan clergy direct in C. the episcopal college and the Cauquenes institute. Under Spanish rule, C. was the center of the Jesuit missions in the region. In 1939 the diocese was struck by a violent earthquake that caused about 50,000 deaths and very serious damage to many churches and parish houses.

Raul Pinto