VIC, Diocese of. - City and diocese in the province of Barcelona in Spain.
It has an area of 3367 sq km with a population of 250,246 inhabitants, almost all Catholics, distributed in 262 parishes, served by 391 diocesan priests and 66 regulars; it has a conciliar seminary, 19 male religious communities and 98 female ones (Ann. pont. 1953, p. 446). It is a suffragan of Tarragona.
V. is the ancient "Ausa" of the Romans, and the episcopal see was called Ausonensis until the 13th century. The first known bishop is Cinidius, who took part in the Council of Tarragona in 516; Aquilinus (589-99) was at the Third Council of Toledo, Guerricus at the Eighth (653); Visefro sent a representative of his to the Thirteenth (683). Then came the Saracen invasion, and V. was reconquered only in the time of Louis the Pious, passing under the archdiocese of Narbonne. In 888 Godomarus was made bishop of V. Between 915 and 938 the bishop was Jorge; between 960 and 972 Attone; between 1018 and 1046 Oliva, abbot of Ripoll; then Peter Retorta in 1180. The bishops, who had already obtained the title of princes in the Carolingian age, had long to contend with the claims of the Moncada family; in 1315 the bishop Berenguer Laguardia ceded his rights to King James I. Bishop Aciscio Moya de Contreras took part in the Council of Trent.
The rights of the cathedral were long disputed between the church of St. Peter and that of St. Mary Rotunda, where the bishop celebrated the first Mass of Christmas, while in St. Peter he celebrated the third. They remained secured to St. Mary when the ancient church of 886 was rebuilt under the care of the canon Guglielmo Bonfili and consecrated in 1180 by Bishop Retorta. The transept was added in 1401 by Bishop Diego De Heredia; the door known as that of St. John, in 1585. The temple underwent further transformations between 1633 and 1680; it was demolished in 1787 for the construction of the new cathedral, finished and reconsecrated on 15 Sept. 1803. J. M. Sert decorated it with a cycle of frescoes, a first time from 1900 to 1915, a second time from 1926 to 1930; but in 1936 the cathedral was burned and devastated; between 1940 and 1945 the building was restored and enlarged with an ambulatory and adjoining structures. The interior, 70 x 29 m, is divided into three naves by square pillars with gilded ribs; it has side chapels; in the transept rises the dome at a height of 35 m. In a chapel on the left is the silver sarcophagus of Bishop Bernardo Calvé, d. 1284, a work of Juan de Matons (1728). Notable is the retable of the high altar, in alabaster, by Pedro Oller, representing in the center the Blessed Virgin and St. Peter, around it the Joyful Mysteries, episodes of the Life of St. Peter and the Apostles. The crypt of the 11th century has vaults supported by six columns (v. reproduction in vol. IV, pl. 53).
J. M. Sert began the new decoration of the interior of the basilica with the cycle relating to the Redemption, the Apostles, the Martyrs, the Beatitudes; the work, interrupted in 1945 by his death, was continued by M. Massot. To the south of the cathedral is the cloister of the 12th century with upper galleries of the 14th; there is the chapter hall, formerly the chapel of the Holy Spirit, with apse and dome, a work of B. Ladernosa (14th century); there is also the chapel of St. Mary de la Redonda with a Baroque altar of 1632; along the walls there are: a Roman altar to Diana, sarcophagi and the monument to the philosopher J. Balmes (v.), erected in 1865, with a statue by J. Bover.
To the north of the Cathedral is the Balmes popular Library. In the episcopal Palace the bishop B. José Morgades y Gili (1882-98) founded the archaeological Museum, which contains a rich collection of paintings and sculptures, the panels of the great retable of the Poor Clares, a work of L. Borrassà (1414), fabrics from the 10th to the 13th century, sacred vestments, among which the cope of Bishop Bellera (1352-77), precious manuscripts and liturgical furnishings. The diocesan Archive is rich: it possesses 5 papyrus documents, 105 parchment codices and 12 paper ones, all of high value. The lapidary Museum is inside a Roman temple, transformed in the 9th century into a castle. In its territory are found the monasteries of Montserrat (v.), of Ripoll (v.) and of S. Juan de las Abadesas; this was one of the most distinguished monasteries of Spain, founded ca. the year 885 by Count Vifrido el Velloso and by his wife Vinidilda. The church, in the Latin cross plan, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, was consecrated on 24 June 887 by Bishop Godomaro (E. Junyent, El necrologio del monasterio de San Juan de las Abadesas, in Analecta sacra Tarraconensia, 23 [1950], pp. 131-91); the cloister is Romanesque. The Seminary was established by Bishop Gaspare Gil (1635-38). V. was a university seat and obtained privileges in 1595 from Philip II and in 1702 from Philip V.
In the diocese of V. were born Michele de los Santos, called Miguel Argemir Trinitario (1591-1625), and the blessed Gioacchina Vedruna (v.); in V. is the tomb of St. Anthony
Claret (v.), canonized in 1952 (AAS, 42 [1950], pp. 268-269, 314-16; 44 [1952], p. 345 ff.).
Bibliography10 works
Enrico Josi