CÓRDOBA, DIOCESE OF. — A city, provincial capital, and diocese of Spain in Andalusia; the *Corduba* of the Romans in *Hispania ulterior*. Given the city’s prosperity in the early centuries of the empire, it can be assumed that it received the Christian religion at an early date.
The martyrs of Córdoba are recalled by Prudentius in these words: “Córdoba will yield Aciscius and Zoilus and three crowns” (*Peristephanon*, IV, 19–20). The *Martyrologium Hieronymianum* commemorates the martyr Aciscius on 18 November; two manuscripts add the note “on this day roses are gathered there.” The inscription carved on the column at Carmona (6th century) concerning him reads: “of the lord Aciscius” (E. Hübner, *Inscriptiones Hispaniae Christianae*, Berlin 1871, no. 374). From the calendar of the year 961 it appears that St Aciscius had three churches in Córdoba: one at his tomb, “in ecclesia Carceratorum,” another belonging to parchment workers, and the third in the monastery of Armila (M. Ferotin, *Le «Liber ordinum» en usage dans l'Église wisigothique et mozarabe d'Espagne*, Paris 1904, p. 487). Zoilus is listed on 27 June in the *Martyrologium Hieronymianum*, in Mozarabic calendars, and in liturgical books (M. Ferotin, *op. cit.*, pp. 568–69). The martyr was buried “in vico Cris”; his relics were later translated to the city “in ecclesia vici Tiraceorum.”
St Victoria, now co-patroness of Córdoba, first appears alongside St Aciscius in the prologue of the León antiphonary of the year 1066 (E. Flórez, *España Sagrada*, Madrid 1747–75, V, pp. 288–303).
The “three crowns” are the martyrs Faustus, Januarius, and Martial, listed by the *Martyrologium Hieronymianum* on 13 October; in the Carmona inscription they bear the title “of the lords three”; another, from the year 622, states: “three holy brothers whom Córdoba held, having suffered there” (E. Hübner, *op. cit.*, no. 363). The calendar of 961 indicates their burial in a basilica outside the city “in vico Turris.” Within the city there was another church in their honour, mentioned by St Eulogius (*Memoriale Sanctorum*, II, 9: PL 115, 776). On St Eulogius of Córdoba see J. Pérez de Urbel, *San Eulogio de Córdoba*, Madrid 1928.
The name of Severus, bishop of Córdoba in the second half of the 3rd century, is cited, but nothing certain is known of him; instead, the apostolate of the great Hosius is celebrated in Church history. A confessor of the faith, he attended the Council of Elvira (c. 300) and served as papal legate at the First Ecumenical Council held at Nicaea in 325 against the Arians; he also presided at the Council of Sardica (342 or 343). Hosius died at Sirmium at the age of one hundred in 357, after sixty years of glorious pontificate. His successor was Hyginus, or Adiginus, the first opponent of the Priscillianist heresy according to Sulpicius (though he later joined the opposing party, which earned him excommunication and exile), and also an adversary of the Luciferians. Some catalogues of Spanish bishops list Gregory and Isidore as successors of Hyginus, despite unresolved difficulties; certainly in the year 504 a prelate of this diocese named Stephen was present at the Roman Council held that year by Pope Symmachus. During the Arian rule of the Visigoths nothing is known of the diocese or its bishops; at the Second Council of Toledo in 588, where the total conversion of the Spanish people with their sovereign Reccared was proclaimed, a bishop of Córdoba named Agapius again appears, who also subscribed to the First Council of Seville after St Leander. During the episcopate of Bishop Zacchaeus the Moorish invasion occurred (711), after which Córdoba became the capital of their kingdom for several centuries; Christians then suffered greatly, and not a few were martyrs, especially under the reign of ‘Abd ar-Rahmān II (c. 824). In response to the persecution provoked by the zeal of certain Christians, a council was held in Córdoba in 852 that forbade the spontaneous presentation to martyrdom. Shortly afterwards, under Bishop Saulus, another council was held to suppress a schism among the faithful of the city; his successor Valentine held a third council (c. 862). Córdoba was conquered by King St Ferdinand in 1236, and the episcopal see was restored after nearly three centuries of vacancy under Bishop Lupo de Fitero. At that time the great mosque, begun in 785 by ‘Abd ar-Rahmān and expanded in 961 by al-Hakam II, was converted into a church; columns from Roman monuments of the city had been used in its construction. The transformation was carried out in 1593 by Hernán Ruiz, who erected the bell tower on the minaret. Other notable churches are: St Marina, St Lawrence, St Nicholas of the Town, St Andrew, St Augustine, St Paul, St Martha, the Crucifix, St Michael (built on the site of the Roman Senate), the church of St James erected over the Roman circus, the church of All Saints over the theatre, St Nicholas over the temple of Apollo, and the church of the Trinity over the temple of Bacchus. The monastic communities left Córdoba during the fierce Arab persecution of 852. The church of St Michael de Escalada was built by monks from Córdoba who had taken refuge there in 914 (Gómez Moreno, *Iglesias Mozárabes*, Madrid 1919, pp. 141–61; V. Lampérez, *Historia de la Arquitectura cristiana española*, I, Madrid 1930, p. 256). Notable shrines in the diocese include those of Our Lady of the Sierra (founded in the 13th century), Our Lady of Araceli in Lucena (feast on 8 September, founded in 1600), Our Lady of the Moon in Pozoblanco (feast on Pentecost Sunday), and Our Lady of Guía in Alcaracejos. In Córdoba itself the great bridge over the Guadalquivir (240 m long with 16 arches), though defaced in the Arab period, is of Roman origin. The bridge was long defended by a fortress, the Calahorra.
The diocese is a suffragan of Seville, covers an area of 15,097 km², has 126 parishes, 195 secular priests and 90 regular clergy, and serves a population of 995,150, of whom 995,000 are Catholic (1948). The patrons of the diocese are St Acisclus and St Victoria.
Enrico Josi – Giuseppe Pou y Martí