SALAMANCA, DIOCESE of. — City and diocese in Spain. It has an area of 8,674 sq km, with a population of 250,000 inhabitants, all Catholics, distributed among 287 parishes served by 305 diocesan priests and 182 religious priests; it has two seminaries, 19 male and 60 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1952, p. 346). In 589 it was a suffragan of Mérida; from 1120 to 1851 of Santiago, and since then it has been a suffragan of Valladolid. From 1851 until 1884, the see of Ciudad Rodrigo was united to II. Its patrons are ss. Giovanni di S. Facondo and Teresa di Gesù.
It is the ancient “Salamatica” or “Salamatis,” not “Elmatica,” as some erroneously believed, of Roman Lusitania; today it lies in the westernmost region of Spain and is the capital of the homonymous civil province and ecclesiastical diocese.
The origin of this diocese is lost in the obscurity of legend, since it cannot be admitted that it was founded by s. Secondo in the 1st century. The first bishop of whom there is reliable information is Eleuterio in the 6th century, who attended the well-known Third Council of Toledo in 589, where King Recaredo and the entire episcopate proclaimed the Catholic unity of the Visigothic Kingdom. Under Saracen rule, both the city and the entire diocese must have suffered greatly; its bishops took refuge in Asturias. But after the region was conquered by King Alfonso VI the Great in 901, the diocese was restored. Nevertheless, the see was not continuously occupied until the end of that same century, when King Ramiro II of Burgundy and his wife Urraea built the Cathedral (catedral vieja), later completed by their successors. It is still preserved, with some later additions, displaying a strange mixture of Romanesque and Gothic styles, like an imposing fortress surmounted by an elegant dome; it consists of three naves with as many semicircular apses. The cloister of 1170 was rebuilt and transformed in 1785. It contains the chapel of S. Caterina, where several Compostellan councils were held; that of S. Barbara, which was the place where candidates for university degrees underwent their examinations (and it may be said that there lay the cradle of that famous center of learning; that of S. Salvatore or Talavera, founded and endowed by Arias Maldonado with 12 chaplaincies, in which Mass is celebrated according to the Mozarabic rite; and finally that of S. Bartolomeo, called that of Anayas after its founder, Diego de Anayas, archbishop of Seville, who left there his splendid tomb. Worthy of note are the sixteenth-century paintings of the high altar, representing scenes from the life of Christ; the baptismal fonts, where King Alfonso II and other personages received the first Sacrament; and the tombs of various princes and prelates. The new Cathedral was begun in 1513 by Juan Gil de Hontafón through the efforts of the Catholic sovereigns Ferdinando and Isabella; part of it was opened for worship in 1560, but it was inaugurated in 1733; finally, in 1762, it was consecrated by Bishop F. Francesco de San Andres. The style is decadent Gothic, with Renaissance and Baroque additions; it is in the form of a Latin cross with five naves. The northern portal (puerta de ramas or de las palmas) has a fine relief of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and statues of the apostles Peter and Paul. The bell tower is 110 m high, after the model of that of Toledo; the dome was completed in 1765. The interior is 104 m long, 49 m wide, and 60 m high beneath the dome. Noteworthy is the polychrome wooden group by Juan de Juni representing s. Anna teaching the Blessed Virgin to read. The two Cathedrals were declared national monuments in 1887, and the new one was granted the title of Basilica by Pope Pius IX in 1854. Two artistic silver urns are worthy of admiration: that on the Gospel side contains the body of s. Giovanni di S. Facondo, while that on the Epistle side contains the relics of s. Tommaso di Villanova. Also very beautiful is the Byzantine image of Our Lady of the Vega, patroness of the city, and the Christ of the legendary hero, the Cid Campeador.
Other churches are: the church of S. Martino, in a transitional Romanesque style (12th century); in the northern portal is the statue of s. Martino (12th century), while the southern portal is Renaissance. The church of S. Sebastiano, with a dome, was erected in 1731 by A. Churriguera. The church of the Holy Spirit was erected in 1541; that of S. Maria de la Vega in 1570, and restored in the 18th century. The church of S. Tommaso di Canterbury dates from the 12th–15th centuries; that of Santiago preserves apses from the 12th century, while the rest has been transformed; the church of the Most Holy Trinity or of S. Paolo dates from 1677; that of Carmine di Abajo from the 18th century. The church of S. Esteban, generally called that of S. Domenico, in the Gothic style, was erected between 1524 and 1560; Cristoforo Colombo resided in the adjoining Dominican convent in 1484. The church of S. Cristobal, dating from 1145 and the finest example of Romanesque architecture in S., has been converted into a school. The church of S. Biagio dates from 1772; the church of the SS. Giuliano and Basilissa, with its portal and bell tower, dates from the 12th century, while the rest was rebuilt in 1582. The church of S. Juan de Barbalos dates from the 12th century and has remains of a Romanesque cloister. The church of the Maddalena was rebuilt in 1776; the church of S. Maria de los Caballeros dates back to the 13th century but was transformed in the 16th century and in 1779. The chapel de la Vera Cruz was rebuilt in 1713. The chapel de S. Francisco or of the Capuchins dates from 1746 and has a Neoclassical façade. The Carmelite convent was founded by S. Teresa in 1570; the one called “de las Bernardas (Cistercensi) de Jesus” dates from 1552. The Augustinian convent is attached to the church built by Fontana in 1636, with a dome that dominates the entire city. Inside is preserved the painting of the Conception, a masterpiece by Ribera. The convent of S. Isabella was founded in 1433; the one called “Corpus Christi” or of S. Chiara has an attached Baroque church from the 17th century.
The University of S., also called “Escuelas mayores,” was founded by Alfonso IX, king of León, who died in 1230; Fernando II (d. 1252) granted it many privileges; Alfonso X (d. 1284) added new chairs to II. In the 14th century it had such fame that it ranked immediately after that of Paris, and it reached its greatest flourishing in the 16th century, with 6,700 students. Cristoforo Colombo came to consult its professors. The numerous manuscripts and the Library, rich in 80,000 volumes, still attest to the former importance of this center of ecclesiastical learning, which some consider fourth in worldwide renown, and certainly the foremost in Spain. The teaching of the theologians of S. Salmanticensi (v.). Celebrated masters at this University were del Vitoria, Melchiorre Cano, Medina, Bañez, Suárez, and El Tostado.
S. had several colleges: the most celebrated is that of the Arzobispo and “de los Irlandeses,” erected in 1527, inau-
