MATANZAS, DIOCESI of. — City and diocese on the northern coast of the Island of Cuba.
It has an area of 8,444 sq. km. and a population of 361,079 inhabitants, of whom 324,970 are Catholics. It has 29 parishes served by 19 diocesan priests and 36 religious priests; it has one seminary, 11 male and 16 female religious communities (Ann. Pont., 1951, p. 266).
The diocese was created by Pope Pius X by decree of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation dated 10 December 1912. It is suffragan to S. Cristoforo dell’Avana. The patrons of the diocese are Sts. Carlo and Severino.
BIBL.: AAS, 5 (1913), p. 94; Enc. Eur. Am., XXXIII, pp. 852–56. Enrico Josi