LÉRIDA, DIÓCESE OF. — In Spain, in the homonymous province. The first information about this diocese (Ilerda) dates from the 6th century, and its first bishop was a certain Peter; however, its boundaries are unknown. At present it covers 7,848 sq. km., with 222,707 inhabitants, of whom 222,667 are Catholics (1949), served by 261 diocesan priests and 2 regulars; one council seminary and one minor seminary, 9 male religious communities and 44 female. It is a suffragan of Tarragona. The patron saint of the diocese is St. John the Baptist.
Its boundaries are the dioceses of Barbastro and Urgel to the north, Solsona and Urgel to the east, Tarragona, Tortosa and Huesca to the south, and Saragossa to the northwest. Of its 261 parishes, 129 are in the civil province of Huesca, 2