MONTEREY-FRESNO, DIOCESE OF
In the ecclesiastical province of Los Angeles, U.S.A., it comprises 12 counties of the State of California and covers an area of 43,714 square miles with a total population of 1,080,348 inhabitants, of whom 214,615 are Catholics. The diocese of Monterey-Fresno today has 204 priests, including 63 religious. There are 81 parishes, 64 chapels, 50 missions and 23 stations, a seminary, 7 hospitals, a home for the elderly; 25 women's congregations work in the diocese.
The history of the diocese dates back to the time of the discovery of the Baja California peninsula by Hernán Cortés in June 1536. The Jesuits, the Franciscans and the Dominicans were the first missionaries. Among them, the Franciscan Junipero Serra became famous.
On 27 April 1840, Gregory XVI erected the diocese of the Two Californias and Fr. Francisco García Diego y Moreno, O.F.M., was appointed its first bishop. In 1850 (1 May) the Pope organized the diocese of Monterey or San Diego and Fr. Giuseppe Sadoc Alemany, O.P., was raised to the episcopal dignity. After the American conquest of California, Baja California was detached from the diocese of Monterey (21 Dec. 1853). The part of the diocese located in Alta California was divided into two dioceses by the brief *Ad animarum regimen* of Pius IX, on 20 July 1853, and the diocese of Monterey became then a suffragan of the new archdiocese of San Francisco. The diocese of Monterey-Fresno was created by Pius XI on 19 June 1922, by a division of the diocese of Monterey and to give more favorable boundaries to the dioceses of San Francisco and Sacramento. The diocese of Monterey retained the northern part of the State while the southern part was reserved for the diocese of Los Angeles-San Diego. The latter was divided once more in 1936 (11 July) to form the diocese of San Diego.