JACA, DIOCESI of. — Aragonese diocese, situated in the civil provinces of Saragossa and Huesca and bordering the French dioceses of Bayonne and Tarbes-Lourdes. It is suffragan to Saragossa. Little information is available about this church in the early Middle Ages.
The Cathedral was erected in the 11th century by King Ramiro I of Aragon, but ordinarily the diocese was united with that of Huesca until 1572, when, at the request of King Philip II, it was separated from it by Pope St. Pius V and established as an independent see. It was the first Cathedral to adopt the Roman rite in place of the Visigothic; a Council was held there in 1663. The building is Romanesque in style, sober but elegant; in the 15th century its vaults were rebuilt, as was the cloister, which has unfortunately lost its original appearance. The plan of the Duomo consists of three naves, in addition to that of the transept, and three semicircular apses. The choir, which, as in the other Spanish cathedrals, stood in the centre of the church, was moved near the high altar in 1919. The church was dedicated in 1662, and its liturgical memorial is renewed on 12 December; its patron is St. Peter the Apostle, but the patron saint of the diocese is St. Orosia, whose body is venerated in the said Duomo. In 1785 the vicariate of Valldoncella was incorporated into this diocese; it comprised 48 villages that had until then belonged to Pamplona. Thus today the territory of J. extends over 5391 sq km; its population is 78,258 inhabitants, almost all Catholics, with 154 parishes served by 200 diocesan priests and 28 religious priests, with
4 male and 18 female religious communities. The Seminary, founded in 1851 and destroyed by fire, has recently been rebuilt; likewise, many churches destroyed in the Civil War of 1936. The principal shrine is S. Juan de la Peña, the cradle of the Aragonese reconquest. — Vedi tav. XXXVI.