SANTO DOMINGO (CIUDAD TRUJILLO), ARCIDIOCESI di. - An archdiocese in the Antilles, one of the oldest sees in the Americas, encompassing the whole Island of that name except for the portion belonging to the Republic of Haiti. It also bears the name Ciudad Trujillo, from the political and ecclesiastical capital.
It has an area of 49,543 sq. km., with a population of 2,185,000 inhabitants, of whom 2,165,000 are Catholics; it has 66 parishes, served by 44 diocesan and 153 regular clergy; it has one seminary, 25 male and 38 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1952, p. 367).
The Island was visited by Cristoforo Colombo, and on 6 Jan. 1494 the first Mass was celebrated there by the apostolic vicar Fr. Bernardo Boyl. In 1508 Pope Giulio II created the metropolitan see of Jaragua with the two suffragans of La Vega and Lares de Guijaba; but three years later, after that metropolitan see had been suppressed, the two sees of S. D. and La Vega arose, suffragans of Seville in Spain. In 1528 Leone X wished the two dioceses to be united in that of S. D., which Paolo III raised to metropolitan rank in 1548. The Ordinary retains the title of primate of the Indies. The Cathedral was begun in 1514, but in 1540 work was suspended because of the departure of the architect A. Rodriguez for Peru. Among its relics, noteworthy are the painting of the Immaculate Conception by Velasquez and the great funerary monument of Cristoforo Colombo. - Vedi tav. CXXII.