QUERÉTARO, DIOCESE of. - A diocese in Mexico, suffragan of Morelia.
It has an area of 15,306 sq. km., with a population of 281,000 inhabitants, of whom 280,600 are Catholics; it has 35 parishes with 87 diocesan priests and 10 regular clergy; 6 male and 16 female religious communities (Ann. Pont., 1951, p. 332).
The city, founded in 1446, was occupied by the Spaniards in 1531. In 1601 the Carmelites settled there; in 1636 the Mercedarians, and in 1692 the Dominicans; the Augustinians and the Fathers of the Oratory of S. Filippo Neri also resided at Q. There was likewise a Jesuit college in the diocese, which was suppressed in 1767 by Carlo III, after the Jesuits had been expelled from the Spanish possessions. A renowned institution at Q. was the College of Apostolic Missionaries, much praised by Innocenzo XI because it promoted the propagation of the faith in the Indies.
The city was erected into a diocese on 26 Jan. 1862 by the bull Optimum Maximum of Pio IX. The first bishop was Bernardo Garate.