CORIA, DIOCESE OF. — A city in Spain, suffragan of Toledo, situated on the eastern borders of Portugal. No information is available regarding the religious life of the diocese and its bishops until 589, that is, until the Third Council of Toledo, where the conversion of the Visigoths and of the entire Spanish people to the Catholic faith was proclaimed.
Among the 62 bishops attending that assembly, the bishop of C., Hyacinth, signed last, which suggests that he had been recently consecrated. He was succeeded by Elias, who subscribed to an oil decree of King Gundemar in 610 concerning the Metropolitan See of Cartagena; after him the diocese was governed by Boniface I, John, Actualis, and Boniface II, who attended various Councils of Toledo. During the time of Peter (713), C. was occupied by the Saracens, resulting in a vacancy of the see for almost a century and a half; indeed, it can be said to have lasted over four centuries, since the bishops Babila and James (860-915) resided elsewhere. With the reconquest of the city in the 13th century and under Bishop Iñigo Navarro, the continuous series of Corian prelates recommenced. The diocese has an area of 9,742 sq. km., with 131 parishes, 176 diocesan priests and 17 regulars serving 249,518 inhabitants, all Catholic (1949). The patron saint is St. Peter of Alcantara.
Gius. M. Pou y Marti
