SALAMANCA, DIOCESE OF. – A city and diocese in Spain. It has an area of 8,674 km² with a population of 250,000, all Catholic, distributed across 287 parishes served by 305 diocesan priests and 182 religious; it has two seminaries, 19 male religious communities and 60 female (Ann. Pont. 1952, p. 346). In 589 it was a suffragan of Mérida; from 1120 to 1851 of Santiago, and since then has been a suffragan of Valladolid. In 1851, until 1884, the see of Ciudad Rodrigo was united to II. The patrons are Sts. John of Sahagún and Teresa of Jesus.
It is the ancient *Salamantica* or *Salamatis*, not *Elmatica* as some erroneously believed, of Roman Lusitania, now in the westernmost region of Spain, capital of the civil province and ecclesiastical diocese of the same name.
The origin of this diocese is lost in the obscurity of legend; it cannot be admitted that it was founded by St. Secundus in the 1st century. The first bishop of whom reliable information exists is Eleutherius in the 6th century, who attended the well-known Third Council of Toledo in 589, where King Recared and the entire episcopate proclaimed the Catholic unity of the Visigothic kingdom. Under Saracen domination, both the city and the diocese suffered greatly; its bishops took refuge in the Asturias. But when the region was conquered by King Alfonso VI the Great in 901, the diocese was restored; however, the see was not constantly occupied until the end of the same century, when King Ramiro II of Burgundy and his wife Urraca built the Old Cathedral (*Catedral Vieja*), later completed by their successors, which still stands with some later additions, displaying a strange blend of Romanesque and Gothic styles, like an imposing fortress, topped by a slender dome, consisting of three naves with as many semicircular apses. The cloister, dating from 1170, was rebuilt and transformed in 1785; it contains the chapel of St. Catherine, where several Compostelan councils were held; that of St. Barbara, which was the place for examinations of candidates at the University (and it can be said that it was the cradle of that famous center of learning); that of St. Salvador or Talavera, founded and endowed by Arias Maldonado with twelve chaplains, where Mass is celebrated in the Mozarabic rite; and finally that of St. Bartholomew, called de Anayas after its founder Diego de Anayas, archbishop of Seville, who left his splendid tomb there. Noteworthy are the 16th-century paintings of the high altar depicting scenes from the life of Christ; the baptismal fonts where King Alfonso II and other figures received their first sacrament; and the tombs of various princes and prelates. The New Cathedral was begun in 1513 by Juan Gil de Hontañón at the behest of the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand 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. Francisco de San Andrés. The style is late Gothic with Renaissance and Baroque additions; it is in the shape of a Latin cross with five naves. The north portal (*Puerta de Ramos* or *de las Palmas*) features a fine relief of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and statues of the apostles Peter and Paul. The bell tower is 110 m high, similar to that of Toledo; the dome was completed in 1765. The interior measures 104 m in length, 49 m in width, and 60 m in height under the dome. Notable is the polychrome wooden group by Juan de Juni depicting St. Anne teaching the Blessed Virgin to read. Both cathedrals were declared national monuments in 1887, and the New Cathedral was granted the title of Basilica by Pope Pius IX in 1854. Worthy of admiration are two artistic silver urns: that on the Gospel side contains the body of St. John of Sahagún, while that on the Epistle side holds the relics of St. Thomas of Villanova. Also remarkable is the Byzantine-style image of the Madonna of la Vega, patroness of the city, and the Christ of the legendary hero, El Cid Campeador.
Other churches include: the church of St. Martin in transitional Romanesque style (12th century); the north portal features a statue of St. Martin (12th century), while the south portal is Renaissance. The church of St. Sebastian, with its dome, was erected in 1731 by A. Churriguera. The church of the Holy Spirit was built in 1541; that of St. Mary of la Vega in 1570, restored in the 18th century. The church of St. Thomas of Canterbury dates from the 12th–15th centuries; that of Santiago preserves 12th-century apses, the rest having been transformed; the church of the Holy Trinity or St. Paul (also called S. Mina) is from 1677; that of Carmen de Abajo is from the 18th century. The church of St. Stephen, commonly called St. Dominic’s, in Gothic style, was built between 1524–60; in the adjoining Dominican convent Christopher Columbus resided in 1484. The church of St. Christopher, from 1145, the finest example of Romanesque architecture in Salamanca, has been converted into a school. The church of St. Blaise is from 1772; the church of SS. Julian and Basilissa, with its portal and bell tower, is from the 12th century, the rest rebuilt in 1582. The church of St. John of Barbalos is from the 12th century with remains of a Romanesque cloister. The church of the Magdalene was rebuilt in 1776; the church of St. Mary of the Knights dates from the 13th century but was transformed in the 16th and in 1779. The chapel of the True Cross was rebuilt in 1713. The chapel of St. Francis or of the Capuchins is from 1746 with a neoclassical façade. The convent of the Carmelites was founded by St. Teresa in 1570; that known as *de las Bernardas* (Cistercian) of Jesus is from 1552. The convent of the Augustinians is attached to the church built by Fontana in 1636, with a dome dominating the entire city. Inside is preserved the painting of the Immaculate Conception, a masterpiece by Ribera. The convent of St. Isabella was founded in 1433; that called *Corpus Christi* or St. Clare has an attached Baroque church from the 17th century.
The University of Salamanca, also called the *Escuelas Mayores*, was founded by Alfonso IX, King of León (d. 1230); Ferdinand II (d. 1252) granted it many privileges; Alfonso X (d. 1284) added new chairs. In the 14th century it gained such fame that it was second only to Paris and reached its peak in the 16th century with 6,700 students. Christopher Columbus came to consult its professors. The numerous manuscripts and the library, rich in 80,000 volumes, still attest to the ancient importance of this ecclesiastical center of learning, which some consider the fourth most celebrated in the world and certainly the first in Spain. The theological teaching of Salamanca gave rise to the so-called *Salmanticenses* (q.v.). Famous masters at this university included Francisco de Vitoria, Melchior Cano, Medina, Báñez, Suárez, and El Tostado.
Salamanca had several colleges; the most famous is that of the Archbishop and *de los Irlandeses*, erected in 1527, inaugurated