It has an area of 11,466 sq. km. with a population of 560,000 inhabitants, almost all Catholic; it comprises 24 parishes served by 19 diocesan priests; it has a seminary; 1 male and 3 female religious communities (*Ann. Pont. 1952*, p. 358). The diocese of S. M. was created by Bl. Pius X on 11 Feb. 1913, as a suffragan of San Salvador. The first bishop was Msgr. J. Duenas y Argumedo.
BIBL.: anon., s. V. in *Cath. Enc., Supplement*, p. 675; AAS, 5 (1913), p. 95.