SAN FERNANDO. – Diocese in the Philippines, suffragan of Manila, erected on 11 Dec. 1948 by separating from the archdiocese of Manila the civil provinces of Bataan, Pampanga and those parts of the provinces of Zambales, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija that MANIA (v.).
Monsignor Cesare Guerrero, hitherto auxiliary bishop of Manila since 1937, was appointed on 14 May 1949 as the first bishop. The diocese covers an area of 12,920 sq. km.; there are 1,077 churches and chapels, of which only 89 are parishes; 103 secular priests and 13 religious priests attend to the care of souls. The seminary has 35 students. Of the 982,765 inhabitants, 884,338 are Catholic (1950).
BIBL.: AAS, 41 (1949), pp. 400-402. Nicola Kowalsky