TUNJA, DIOCESE OF. – Diocese and city in the Republic of Colombia (South America).
It has an area of 29,034 sq. km. with a population of 924,000 inhabitants, all Catholic, distributed in 118 parishes, served by 157 diocesan priests and 71 regular clergy, has a seminary, 11 male religious communities and 50 female ones (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 436).
The diocese of T. (Tunquenensis), suffragan of Bogotá, was created by Leo XIII on 19 July 1880. T., before the arrival of the Spaniards, was known under the name of Hunza, as the residence of the zaque, sovereign of the Muisca. The city was founded on 6 August 1538 by Captain Gonzalo Suárez Rondón, but it only received its title in 1681.
The image of Our Lady of Refuge in the chapel of the Rosary of the church of St Dominic is greatly venerated by the people, especially on its feast day, the second Sunday in November. The chapel is a jewel of architecture. Pius XI, by apostolic letter of 18 August 1927, raised the church of Our Lady of the Rosary at Chinquina to the rank and dignity of a minor basilica (AAS, 20 [1928], pp. 18-19).