PORTORICO. – Island of the West Indies, belonging to the group of the Greater Antilles, discovered by Cristoforo Colombo on 17 September 1493 and by him called S. Juan Bautista in honor of Don Juan, prince of the Asturies. Spanish colonization began in 1508 through the efforts of Juan Ponce de León. By the Treaty of Peace of 10 December 1898 it passed to the United States.
The evangelization of P. followed immediately upon its conquest. On 8 August 1511, Pope Julius II, by the bull Pontifex Romanus, erected the diocese of S. Juan at the same time as that of S. Domingo. The new dioceses were made suffragans of the archdiocese of Seville (Spain). From 1546, S. Juan was a suffragan of S. Domingo. Its first bishop was Alonso Manso, a canon of Salamanca. The first of the bishops of America, he took possession of his diocese in 1513 and found on the Island 200 Spaniards and approximately 500 Indians converted to Christianity. Alonso Manso was the first general inquisitor of the Indies, approved by Cardinal Adriano of Utrecht, later Pope Adrian VI (1522). In 1511 King Ferdinand sent 24 Friars Minor to P. In 1522 the Dominicans founded the convent of S. Tommaso d'Aquino at S. Juan. But ecclesiastical and missionary activity subsequently had little to do with the indigenous people, because they were almost entirely exterminated within a short time. The missionaries alone courageously defended the indigenous people and upheld their rights (v. LAS CASAS, BARTOLOMÉ de).
Since 1924 the Island has been divided into two dioceses immediately subject to the Holy See, PAVONE (v.) and S. Juan (v.); both suffer from a severe shortage of indigenous clergy, so that the overwhelming majority of the priests needed for ministry must come from abroad.