TUY, DIOCESE OF. – A city and diocese in the extreme western part of Spain; suffragan to the metropolitan see of Santiago de Compostela.
It has an area of 1,895 sq. km. with a population of 350,125, of whom 349,875 are Catholics, distributed in 267 parishes served by 282 diocesan priests and 94 religious; it has a seminary, 12 male religious communities and 39 female (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 437).
It is the ancient Iberian Tude, mentioned by Strabo, Ptolemy and Pomponius Mela. The diocese was founded in the 6th century, its first bishop being one Anila; it was destroyed during the Moorish invasion, the capital razed to the ground and its inhabitants dispersed. Restored in 890 by King Ordoño, the city again had bishops of Tuy, though they had to reside elsewhere, since Tuy was the scene of continual wars and invasions, such as that of the Normans in 1022.
The cathedral, dedicated to Our Lady under the title of the Assumption, was begun in the 11th century in the style of Compostela, but later underwent the influence of the Gothic style and was much restored. It has
a western portal of the 14th century and a northern Romanesque portal; within are numerous tombs of bishops of the 14th century; the attached cloister recalls that of the abbey of Fontfroide near Narbonne. The titular dedication is to the Assumption; St Epitacius is also celebrated, whom legend would have as a disciple of the Apostle St James. Other churches are that of St Bartholomew, Romanesque; of St Francis, neo-classical, with remains of the original in Gothic style; and in Portuguese baroque the chapel of St Peter Telino (18th century); while that of St Dominic, with a neo-classical façade and cloister adorned with bas-reliefs, is of the 14th century. The seminary was founded in 1850 in the former Franciscan convent.
Within the territory of the diocese lies the city of Vigo, the most important Spanish port on the Atlantic. It was an ancient Iberian port; called by the Romans Vicus. The collegiate church of St Mary is in neo-classical style (1814–16). Two km. south of the city rises Mount St Tecla, so called from a chapel dedicated to the saint, a place of pilgrimage on the Monday before Ascension. – See pl. LXV.