DURANGO, ARCHDIOCESE OF. – In Mexico, in the federal state of the same name, bordering to the north with the diocese of Chihuahua, to the east with those of Zacatecas and Saltillo, to the west with that of Zalao, and to the south with that of Tepic. Its territory was detached from the diocese of Guadalajara of Nueva Vizcaya in the Consistory of 28 Sept. 1620, but this erection only took effect on 1 Sept. 1623, that is, 60 years after the foundation of the city of D.
The archdiocese has an area of 132,000 sq. km.; it has 550,000 inhabitants, of whom 533,000 are Catholic; for its governance it is divided into 6 deaneries, 52 parishes with 88 diocesan priests and 8 regular priests, one seminary, 4 male religious houses with 22 professed members and 17 female houses with 166 professed members (1949). The ancient seminary is now used as a military hospital. The first bishop was the Augustinian Gonzalo de Hermosillo, a Mexican. The cathedral church was originally dedicated to the Apostle St. Matthew, but the patroness of the archdiocese is now the Immaculate Conception of Mary. It was suffragan to the metropolitan see of Mexico until 1862, when it passed under that of Guadalajara; but on 23 June 1891 it was raised to an archdiocese by Pope Leo XIII, after having been governed by 24 prelates.
The ninth bishop, García de Legazpi, began the construction of the present cathedral church in 1695; it was completed in the middle of the following century. A century later, Bishop Antonio Zubiría Escalante carried out some commendable modifications inside the church, among which was the removal of the large choir from the center, which had obstructed the view and the large gatherings of the people; he provided it with a new high altar and rebuilt the dome, which is not lacking in the principal churches of that Republic. The same prelate, upon completion of the works, consecrated the cathedral in 1843. The interior resembles the Tuscan Baroque style, while the exterior features two elegant towers. The revolution of the second decade of the last century interrupted the religious development of this archdiocese, and several priests were killed; the persecution in our own times has caused immense damage, chiefly to the personnel, which is now being remedied with the help of some religious orders.