MONTEREY-FRESNO, DIOCESE OF. - In the ecclesiastical province of Los Angeles, U.S.A., it comprises 12 counties of the State of California and covers an area of 43,714 square miles with a total population of 1,080,348 inhabitants, of whom 214,615 are Catholics. M.-F. today has 204 priests, among whom 63 are religious. There are 81 parishes, 64 chapels, 50 missions and 23 stations, 1 seminary, 7 hospitals, 1 home for the aged; 25 women's congregations work in the diocese.
The history of the diocese goes back to the time of the discovery of the peninsula of Lower California made by Hernán Cortés in June 1536. The Jesuits, the Franciscans and the Dominicans were the first missionaries. Among others, the Franciscan Junípero Serra has remained famous.
On April 27, 1840, Gregory XVI erected the diocese of the two Californias and Msgr. Francisco García Diego y Moreno, O.F.M., was appointed first bishop. In 1850 (May 1) the Pope organized the diocese of M. or S. Diego and Msgr. Joseph Sadoc Alemany, O.P., was elevated to the episcopal dignity. After the American conquest of California, Lower California was detached from the diocese of M. (Dec. 21, 1853). The part of the diocese situated in Upper California was divided into two dioceses by the brief Ad animarum regimen of Pius IX, on July 20, 1853, and the diocese of M. then became a suffragan of the new archdiocese of S. Francisco. The diocese of M.-F. was erected by Pius XI, on June 1, 1922, with a division of the diocese of M. and in order to give more favorable boundaries to the dioceses of S. Francisco and Sacramento. The diocese of M. kept the northern part of the State while the southern part was reserved to the diocese of Los Angeles-S. Diego. The latter was divided once again in 1936 (July 11) to form the diocese of S. Diego.