MONDOÑEDO, Diocese of. - Spanish city and diocese in the extreme west of the Cantabrian coast, in the civil provinces of Lugo and La Coruña. It has an area of 4,369 sq km, with 321,400 inhabitants, of whom 320,750 are Catholics. It has 401 parishes with 345 diocesan priests and 42 regulars, and a seminary. Religious communities: 7 male and 28 female.
Its origin dates back to the 6th century, according to some writers, who supposed it was governed for a long time by the abbots of Dumio, among whom the first, St. Martin, and the sixth, St. Fructuosus, who also governed the diocese of Braga, are remembered for their fame. More reliable information is available from the 9th century; the diocese changed its seat several times and also its name, the last time in 1114, having been transferred, by virtue of the decree of the Council of Palencia, confirmed by Pope Paschal II, to Vallibria, later called M. Nevertheless the prelates Rabinato, at the end of the 12th century, and Pelagius II, his successor, resided at Ribadeo. Among the most illustrious bishops are cited, besides the patron of the diocese St. Rosendo, founder of the monastery of Celanova, and Gonzalo, called the Saint in the 10th century, the historian Nuño Alonso in the 11th century, Martin, builder and doctor of the present cathedral in the 13th century, Enriquez de Castro, to whom the ancient cloister of the same church in the 15th century is owed, Cardinal Pacheco, the famous Franciscan writer Antonio de Guevara and also the Franciscan Antonio de Lujan in the 16th century, the Trinitarian Diaz de Cabrera, intrepid defender of the diocese against the Protestant English, and Torres Grijalba in the 17th century; Muñoz Salcedo, builder among other things of the towers of the cathedral, and Sarmiento de Sotomayor, to whom the sanctuary of Our Lady of Remedies and the hospital of the city are owed, Riomol Quiroga, rebuilder of the episcopal palace, and Losada, who raised the present seminary, enlarged in the 19th century by Bishop Cos y Macho.
The present Cathedral, dedicated to the Annunciation of Mary Most Holy, was built in the 13th century with the help of King Alfonso IX; it presents the style of transition from Romanesque to Gothic, only the reliefs of the facade and of the towers show rather the Baroque dominance of the 17th century.