ZULIA, Diocese of. - Diocese and capital city of the state of the same name in Venezuela (South America). The residence is at Maracaibo.

It has an area of 58,000 sq km with a population of 523,568 inhabitants, all Catholics, distributed in 24 parishes served by 35 diocesan priests and 44 regulars; it has a seminary, 12 male religious communities and 16 female ones (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 282).

The diocese was erected by Pope Leo XIII on 25 July 1897, by detachment from the diocese of Merida, raising to the rank and dignity of cathedral the church dedicated to the apostles Peter and Paul. Its first bishop was Msgr. Francesco Marvez. The episcopal see remained vacant from 1904 to 1910, the year in which Msgr. Celestino Alvarez was consecrated bishop. The diocese was first a suffragan of Santiago de Venezuela; it is currently a suffragan of Merida.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: F. S. Jimenez, s. v. in Cath. Enc., XV, p. 766; J. Cimillera, Anuario ecclesiastico Venezolano, 1953, Caracas 1953, pp. 200-12.

Enrico Josi

@incollection{ec12_zulia_diocesi_di, author = {Josi, Enrico}, title = {Zulia, diocesi di}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XII}, pages = {1829}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1954}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/zulia-diocesi-di} }

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Zulia, Diocese of

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