DIOCESE OF SOCORRO AND SAN GIL. - In the Republic of Colombia (South America).

It has an area of 12,900 sq. km., with a population of 345,546 inhabitants, of whom 345,406 are Catholics, distributed in 50 parishes served by 69 diocesan priests and 25 regulars; it has 1 seminary, 5 male religious communities and 23 female ones (Ann. Pont. 1952, p. 384).

The diocese of S. was created by Pope Leo XIII on 20 March 1895 under the name of and with residence at S. Pope Pius XI, by the apostolic constitution Apostolici officii of 19 Jan. 1928, transferred the episcopal see to the city of San Gil, at the same time raising the principal church of that city, dedicated to St. Giles, to the dignity and rank of cathedral; he further established that from then on the diocese should take the name of S. and of San Gil. The diocese is a suffragan of Bogotá.

The city of S. arose at Chiaucon, a village of an indigenous chief of the same name. The village was transferred to its present site in 1681 and placed under the patronage of Our Lady of Succor (S.) with an annual feast on 16 June.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: J. M. Lacolle, s. v., in Cath. Enc., XIV, p. 118; Ruben Vargas Ugarte, Hist. del culto de María en Iberoamerica y de sus imágenes y santuarios más celebrados, Buenos Aires 1947, pp. 378-79; AAS, 21 (1929), pp. 97-98.

Gastone Carriere

@incollection{ec11_socorro_e_san_gil_diocesi_di, author = {Carrière, Gastone}, title = {Socorro e San Gil, diocesi di}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XI}, pages = {880}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/socorro-e-san-gil-diocesi-di} }

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Diocese of Socorro and San Gil

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