URGEL, DIOCESE of. — Diocese of Spain in Catalonia, in the province of Lerida, with its seat at Seo de Urgel, at an altitude of 700 m., on the banks of the Segre. The territory of the diocese extends over 7950 sq. km., not only in the civil provinces of Lerida and Gerona, but also in that of Huesca and in France and Andorra, of which the bishop of U. has been prince of the State since 1278.
It has an area of 7930 sq. km. and a population of 142,084 inhabitants, almost all Catholic, distributed among 497 parishes, served by 256 diocesan priests and 28 religious priests; it has two seminaries, 10 communities of men religious and 34 of women religious (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 439). The diocese is suffragan to Tarragona. Among its bishops, the earliest known is s. Giusto, from approximately the middle of the 6th century; then came Felice, who died in 818; s. Ermengol (1010–35; cf. Martyr. Romanum, p. 495); s. Oddone, who died in 1122; Pedro de Luna (1365–1370), later antipope; the theologian A. Capilla (1588–1609); L. Diaz Aux de Armandáriz (1622–27); A. Perez (1627–33); J. Benloch y Vivo (1906–19), later a cardinal.
The Cathedral, dedicated to s. Oddone, was begun at the beginning of the 11th century by s. Ermengol and completed in 1175 by Lombard masters, as was the cloister. Its ground plan was inspired by that of the abbey of Ripoll; its imposing architecture, the fine proportions of the central nave, and the artistic apses were later disfigured in the 18th century. The high altar is Gothic, of the type found in the cathedral of Barcelona. It was plundered in 1936. Attached to the Cathedral is the artistic cloister with its broad Romanesque galleries, except for the eastern one, which is later. To the left of the Cathedral is the « Parroquia », in the classical style of the 18th century;
the episcopal palace belongs to different periods, with an elegant patio and a square tower.
Among the manuscripts are the celebrated codex of the Apocalypse (P. Pujol i Tuban, De paleographia visigótica a Catalunya: El cèdex de l'Apocalipsi de Beatus de la Catedral d'U., in Bullett de la Bibl. de Catalunya, 4 [1917], pp. 6-27); a 10th-century codex of the Dialogues of Gregory the Great (ms. XI, 173), an 11th-century Bible (XI, 175); the manuscript of the monk Guillerm Costa de Curu, prior of S. Maria of Ripoll, etc.
Noteworthy is the church founded by s. Ermengol and dedicated to s. Michele, on account of the 12th-century frescoes it contains. The Cathedral Archive preserves precious original documents, such as one issued by Silvester II for Bishop Sala in May 1001; a donation by Bishop Ermengol to the Chapter in 1010; a donation by Benedict VIII to the said bishop in 1012; one by Eugenius III to Bishop Bernardo dated 17 March 1151; and several by Alexander III (1163–75).
At Tremp is the sanctuary of S. Maria de Pallars, now S. Maria de Valle de Flores. After the original church had been destroyed by the Arabs, it was rebuilt by Bishop Bernardo in 1087 and endowed by Count Raimondo of Pallars and his family; it subsequently became affiliated (A. Coy y Cotonat, Sort y comarca Noguera Pallaresca, Barcelona 1906; M. Lledos y Mir, Historia de la antigua villa hoy ciudad de Tremp, Barcelona 1917). Pope Pius XI, by an apostolic letter of 23 January 1923, raised the sanctuary of Tremp to the title and dignity of a minor basilica (AAS, 15 [1923], pp. 146-47). Tremp also had the Dominican convent of S. Giacomo de Pallars, called « Schola Christi ». At Nuria in the Fresser, at an altitude of 1985 m., there is an 11th-century sanctuary with a church dating from 1642 and another modern one. At Gerri is the abbey of S. Vincenzo, founded by Count Pallars, now N. S. de Gerri (J. Pasqual, Principio, progresos y decadencia del R. Monasterio de S. Vicente (hoy de Nuestra Señora) de Gerri, in Revista de Ciencias historicas, 1 [1880], pp. 54 ff.). At Mur there is a monastery founded by Count Pietro of Pallars in 1108; it is mentioned in the Liber Censuum (ed. Fabre-Duchesne, p. 17; J. Miret y Sans, Nota a la fundación del monestir de Mur, in Boletín de la R. Academia de Buenos Letras de Barcelona, 6 [1941]). At Ager (Aggerense Castrum), the church of S. Pietro, with an attached monastery, is mentioned in the Liber Censuum (ed. Fabre-Duchesne, I, p. 216; II, p. 116); there are also documents from Pope Alexander III to Abbot Raimoro dated 1165 and 1179. At Castelbò is the convent of the nuns of S. Cecilia of Elins, dating from 1436.