SAN DIEGO, DIOCESE of. - Diocese and city in the State of California (U.S.A.). Its territory now comprises 35,879 square miles, with a total population (1950) of 1,048,767 inhabitants in the counties of Imperial, Riverside, S. Bernardino, and S. D. in California.
There are (1951) 160,000 Catholics; 242 priests, of whom 67 are religious, exercise the sacred ministry in 119 parishes, 47 chapels, and 47 missions. There are also 25 women’s congregations, 2 seminaries, 1 Franciscan school, 2 orphanages, and 2 hospitals. The see of Monterey or S. D., erected by Gregory XIV on 27 Apr. 1840, comprised the two Californias; but when Upper California passed under the civil jurisdiction of the United States, Pius IX detached this ancient Mexican province from the territory of Monterey (21 Dec. 1853). On 20 July Upper California was divided into two dioceses, and the diocese of Monterey then became suffragan to the diocese of S. FRANCHI (v.).
In 1922, Pius XI dismembered Monterey-Fresno in order to give more suitable boundaries to the dioceses of S. Francisco and Sacramento; the southern part of the State formed the diocese of Los Angeles-S. D. On 11 July 1936, by the apostolic constitution Ad spirituale christianae plebis regimen, Pius XI erected the diocese of S. D. by separation from Los Angeles.