VITORIA, DIOCESE OF
Diocese and provincial capital in the province of Alava. The diocese covers an area of 3,364 sq km with a population of 120,156 inhabitants, all Catholic, distributed across 406 parishes served by 541 diocesan priests and 72 regular clergy; it has three seminaries, two minor and one major, 15 male religious communities and 54 female ones (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 450). The diocese is a suffragan of Burgos.
The diocese was erected by Pope Pius IX with a bull dated 28 April 1862 following the Concordat between the Holy See and Spain, by detaching territory from the diocese of Calahorra. Pope Pius XII, with the apostolic constitution *Quo commodius* of 1904, detached the civil province of Vizcaya to establish the diocese of Bilbao; likewise, he detached the civil province of Guipúzcoa to establish the diocese of San Sebastián, and at the same time detached from the diocese of Calahorra the territory known as the *Contado de Treviño* and united it to the diocese of Vitoria. He also assigned as patron saint of the diocese St. Prudence of Armenia (AAS, 42 [1950], pp. 335-39).
The old city is situated at about 527 m above sea level, on a hill of El Campillo overlooking the plain, and developed around the cathedral; the new city lies to the south. It is the ancient *Gazteiz*, believed to be of Vasconic origin. It was conquered in 1181 by Sancho the Wise, King of Navarre, who gave it its present name, fortified it, and granted it privileges. The city expanded after the victory at Las Navas in 1212 and acquired a new set of walls; in 1332 it passed to the Crown of Castile. To the south of the city, on 21 June 1813, the English, Portuguese, and Spanish defeated the French, forcing them to retreat to Pamplona and abandon Spain.
The cathedral, dedicated to the Assumption of Mary, was built in the 14th century over an earlier Romanesque structure, of which an octagonal tower remains. The exterior features a covered portico with a 14th-century portal adorned with scenes from the life of the Virgin. The interior has three naves with a broad transept; in it a chapel houses the *Sepoltura del Signore* by Caravaggio; the *capilla mayor* contains the bas-relief of the Assumption by Valdivielso; the sacristy holds a *Deposition from the Cross* by Van Dyck and a Romanesque statue of the Blessed Virgin. The new cathedral in Gothic style, begun in 1906 to designs by Apáriz and Luque, was interrupted in 1914 and resumed in 1946.
The major seminary was founded in 1880 by Bishop Herrero y Espinosa de los Monteros. The church of St. Peter dates from the 14th century; the church of St. Michael (14th century) contains a retable by G. Fernández and V. Velázquez; outside stands a jasper statue and the *Virgen Blanca*, patroness of the city (14th century). The church of St. Vincent is in Gothic style (14th century). Noteworthy is VITA (v.).
The Casa de Álava, built in 1916, houses the Archives, the Library, and the Museums. The diocesan museum on the first floor contains a collection of triptychs from the Flemish, Italian, and Spanish schools; polychrome statues of Christ and the Virgin from the 14th–15th centuries. The provincial museum holds a series of paintings; its archaeological section displays prehistoric, Neolithic, and Roman antiquities, as well as numismatic collections. The episcopal palace once had a rich library, but its paintings are now on deposit at the Prado in Madrid.
In Azpeitia, until 2 November 1949 part of the diocese of Vitoria, the Servant of God Francisco de Garate, S.J. (v.), was born on 3 February 1857; his cause of beatification and canonization was introduced on 26 February 1950 (AAS, 24 [1950], pp. 559–60). — See pl. CLII.