TEPIC, DIOCESI di. - City and diocese of Mexico in the State of Nayarit, comprising the whole territory of Nayarit and some parishes of the State of Jalisco.
It has an area of 32,244 sq. km, with a population of 307,000 inhabitants, of whom 300,000 are Catholics; it has 20 parishes served by 72 diocesan and 7 regular priests; a seminary; 3 male and 8 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 420).
The province of Nayarit, inhabited by Indian tribes, was visited in 1668 by the Franciscans J. Caballero and Juan B. Ramirez, who vainly sought to bring Christianity there. In 1711 Fr. Margil of the convent of Zacatecas again attempted to reach the region. Finally, in 1716, the Jesuit Thomas de Solchaga succeeded in penetrating those mountains and sowing there the first seeds of Christianity. From then on, the missions gradually began to flourish. Until 1807 they were administered by the Franciscans. On 23 June 1891 Pope Leo XIII created the diocese of T., suffragan to Guadalajara.