The city was founded in 1579 under the name of Santa Lucía; in 1585 it was renamed Ciudad de León, and on 29 September 1596 it became Ciudad metropolitana de Nuestra Señora de Monterrey. The diocese was erected by Pope Pius VI on 15 December 1777 at the request of Charles III and was named Linares, as a suffragan of the archdiocese of Mexico. Its first bishop was Msgr. Antonio de los Reyes. On 23 June 1891 Leo XIII elevated it to the status of a metropolitan see, assigning as its suffragans the dioceses of San Luis Potosí, Saltillo, and Tamaulipas. By decrees of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation dated 9 June 1922, the title of the archdiocese was changed to Monterrey (AAS, 14 [1922], p. 383).
The cathedral, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, has a single nave and a single tower. Notable is the ancient parish church of San Francisco, dating from 1590. The Basilica of Our Lady of the Oak, or Lateran Basilica, was built in 1855 and contains the image of the Virgin of the Oak, found by an Indian in the 16th century. The Virgin of the Oak is the patroness of the city. The “Obispado Viejo” was built on the Hill of the Chepe Vera by Bishop Verger in 1785.