SANTANDER. — City and diocese of Spain on the Cantabrian coast; it comprises within its territory the civil province of the same name, with the exception of the judicial district of Portes and those of Reinosa; but it extends through the valleys of Mena, Tudela, and Angulo in the province of Burgos.
It has an area of 4,104 sq. km., with a population of 350,000 inhabitants, of whom 349,000 are Catholics, distributed among 383 parishes served by 385 diocesan priests and 252 religious; its cultural center is the CAMILLI (v.), and it also has the conciliar Seminary of Corban (S. Catalina) and a minor seminary; 25 male and 50 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1952, p. 363).
The patrons of the diocese are the holy martyrs Emeterio and Celidonio (30 Aug.) and Our Lady de la Bien Aparecida (42 and 15 Sept.). S. is home to the rich Menéndez y Pelayo Library.
Until 1754 the territory of S. was ecclesiastically dependent on the archbishop of Burgos, whose suffragan it still is; but, since the latter was too extensive, Pope Benedict XIV created this new and flourishing diocese in 1754. Its ancient name is said to have been « Fanum S. Andreae ». The bishop resides in the capital of the same name.
The Cathedral is modern, begun as a collegiate church in 1752; its crypt, however, which is its most interesting part, dates from the 12th century or, at the latest, the 13th, and was the church of the abbey of the SS. Emeterio and Celidonio as well as the burial place of its abbots. The new building is Gothic in style and rectangular in form, with three aisles and no transept, which detracts from its elegance. The cloister belonging to the old church is also Gothic in style. The Seminary was opened in 1852; previously the students attended courses at the Seminary of Burgos. Among the diocese’s famous shrines is that of Our Lady of S. Vicente de la Barquera.