SANTANDER. - City and diocese of Spain on the Cantabrian coast; its territory includes 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 in 383 parishes served by 385 diocesan priests and 252 regulars; it has its center of culture in the Pontifical Seminary and University of Comillas (v.), and it also has the conciliar Seminary of Corban (St. Catalina) and a minor seminary; 25 male religious communities and 50 female (Ann. Pont. 1952, p. 363).
The patrons of the diocese are the holy martyrs Emeterius and Celedonius (Aug. 30) and Our Lady of the Bien Aparecida (Sept. 15 and 42). In S. is the rich Menéndez y Pelayo Library.
Until 1754 the territory of S. depended ecclesiastically on the archbishop of Burgos, of whom the diocese is still a suffragan; but, since this was too vast, Pope Benedict XIV in 1754 created this new and flourishing diocese. The ancient name would be "Fanum S. Andreae". The bishop resides in the capital of the same name.
The Cathedral is modern, begun as a collegiate church in 1752; nevertheless its crypt, which is the most interesting part, comes from the 12th century or at the latest from the 13th century, and was the church of the abbey of Sts. Emeterius and Celedonius and also the burial place of its abbots. The new building is in Gothic style and rectangular in form with three naves without a transept, which deprives it of elegance. The cloister belonging to the old church is also in Gothic style. The Seminary was opened in 1852; previously students followed courses in the Seminary of Burgos. Among the famous sanctuaries of the diocese, that of the Madonna of S. Vicente de la Barquera is remembered.