MONTERREY, ARCHDIOCESE of. - Archdiocese and capital city of the State of Nuevo León in northern Mexico.
The city was founded in 1579 under the name of S. Lucia, changed in 1585 to Ciudad de León, and on 29 Sept. 1596 to Ciudad metropolitana de Nuestra Señora de M. The diocese was created by Pope Pius VI on 15 Dec. 1777, at the request of Charles III, and was named de Linares, as a suffragan of the archdiocese of Mexico. Its first bishop was Msgr. Antonio de Gesù. Pope Leo XIII raised it to metropolitan rank on 23 June 1891, assigning to it as suffragans the dioceses of S. Luigi Potosi, Saltillo, and Tamaulipas. By decrees of the S. Congr. Concistoriale dated 9 June 1922, the title of the archdiocese was changed to that of M. (AAS, 14 [1922], p. 383).
The Cathedral, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, has a single nave and a single tower. The old parish church of S. Francesco, dating from 1590, is artistically noteworthy. The
Lateran Basilica, or that of Nuestra Señora del Roble, was erected in 1855 and contains the image of the Vergen del Roble, found by an Indian in the 16th century. The Vergen del Roble is the patroness of the city. The “Obispado Viejo” was erected on the hill of Chepe Vera by Bishop Verger in 1785.