GRAMADA, DIOCESE OF. – A diocese, with a city of the same name, in Nicaragua, Central America. It covers an area of 29,500 sq. km. and has a population of 300,000, of whom 299,000 are Catholic; it comprises 31 parishes, served by 24 diocesan and 24 regular priests, one seminary, 4 male and 4 female religious communities (1949).
The diocese was erected by decree of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation on 2 Dec. 1913, by separation from the diocese of Guatemala, and was assigned the four civil provinces of G., Rivas, Chontales, and San Juan del Norte; it is a suffragan of Managua. The first bishop was Mgr. José Candida Pinol y Bartes.
GRAMADA, ARCHDIOCESE OF. – A metropolitan church in southern Andalusia, with the suffragan sees of Almería, Cartagena, Guadix, Jaén, and Málaga. It covers an area of 8,448 sq. km. and has a population of 682,000, of whom 680,000 are Catholic. It comprises 246 parishes served by 325 diocesan and 97 regular priests, 13 male and 93 female religious communities (1949). The seminary was enriched by its founders and generously endowed by Charles V; later, by Leo XIII, it was raised to the status of a pontifical university with the usual three faculties. Also noteworthy is the distinguished Colegio-Seminario del Santo Monte, founded in 1610.