SAN SALVATORE (SAN SALVADOR), DIOCESE OF
City and diocese, capital of the Republic of El Salvador in Central America.
It has an area of 11,317 sq. km. with a population of 718,000 inhabitants, of whom 715,000 are Catholics distributed in 48 parishes served by 54 diocesan priests and 70 regular clergy; it has a seminary, 13 male religious communities and 27 female ones (Ann. Pont. 1952, p. 359).
Difficult was the evangelization of this inhabited region, first by the Aztecs of Cuscatlán; only in 1524 were they subjected to Spain by Captain Alvarado; thereafter missionaries and churches appeared, dependent on Guatemala. In 1811 the first movement for independence from Spain arose in the city of El Salvador, but only in 1824 did the city become part of the Republic of Central America, which caused confusion in religious matters. Finally proclaimed independent in 1839, negotiations were conducted with the Holy See for the erection of a diocese in the capital. The diocese was erected by Pope Gregory XVI on 28 September 1842 and comprises all seven departments of the state. Blessed Pope Pius X elevated it to a metropolitan see on 11 February 1913.
The cathedral church, begun in 1881 and completed in 1888, is a magnificent building inspired by Hispano-Colonial architecture, except for the arches, which are pointed.