SEGNA (SENJ. ZENGG), DIOCESE of. — In Croatia (Yugoslavia); united with the diocese of Modrussa; it is suffragan to Zagreb.
It has an area of 10,513 sq. km. and a population of 370,000 inhabitants, of whom 250,000 are Catholics; it has 142 parishes, served by 88 diocesan priests and 13 religious priests; it has 1 seminary, 4 male and 6 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1952, p. 373).
It is not known precisely when the diocese of S. was established. Until approximately the middle of the twelfth century, the territory of the diocese (as well as that of Modrussa) was under the jurisdiction of the bishop of Veglia (Krk). From that time onward there is an uninterrupted series of bishops of S. The diocese of Modrussa or Corbavia (Krbava) was established in 1185 at the provincial Council of Spalato. Its original see, until 1460, was at Corbavia (today Udbina), and subsequently, because of the Turkish invasions, it was transferred to Modrussa. From 1567 the bishops of S. also administered the diocese of Modrussa, until 1640, when Urban VIII united it with that of S. per aequalitatem iurium in the person of a single bishop, who therefore still bears the title «episcopus Segniensis et Modrussiensis seu Corbaviensis».
From 1461 to 1534, Otočac, a city in the territory of the diocese of S., was also the seat of its own diocese. From 1924 the apostolic administration of Kastav (formerly part of the diocese of Trieste) was entrusted to the bishop of S. From 1787 until 1925, the city of Fiume (v.) also belonged to the diocese of Modrussa; in 1952 the Holy See entrusted part of the diocese of Fiume and the city itself to the bishop of S. Until 1640 the bishops of S. and Modrussa were suffragans of the archbishop of Spalato; thereafter, until 1852, of the archbishop of Strigonia, and subsequently of that of Zagreb. Among the bishops, special mention should be made of the bishop of Modrussa Simeone Kožičić (1500–36), a learned orator at the Fifth Lateran Council (1512), and the heroic Antonio de Dominis, who, together with his canons, perished at the hands of the Turks in 1596, during the siege of Klia. The city of S., seat of the diocese, was a nest of the Uskoks, famous for their centuries-long struggle against the Turks and subsequently against the Republic of Venice. The first Croatian printing press was also opened at S. (1494). Throughout the territory of these dioceses Mass is celebrated according to the Roman rite, but in the Old Church Slavonic language (v. SCRITTURA). This practice was confirmed by Innocent IV in 1248 in a letter to the bishop of S., Filippo, and subsequently by other popes. During the repeated invasions and Turkish domination (sixteenth and seventeenth centuries), Orthodox Christians, brought there by the Turks, came and settled in these dioceses in considerable numbers. Attempts at union, especially under the rule of Bishop Benzoni (1730–45), did not achieve lasting success.
From 1806 to 1919 and then from 1934 to 1940, S. had a major seminary. Today the clerics attend the major seminary of Fiume. Compared with the pre-war situation (1941), the number of priests has been reduced by more than half; the women religious can no longer carry out their apostolate in the various institutions, some parishes no longer exist, and the number of the faithful has also decreased significantly as a result of the horrors of the war.