Diocese of Sigüenza-Guadalajara

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Diocese of Sigüenza-Guadalajara
*Dioecesis Seguntinus-Guadalaiarensis*
Statistics
Country:	Spain
Metropolitan:	Toledo
Rite:	Latin Rite
Area:	12,190 km²
Population: Total: Catholics:	185,474 (2004) 178,537 (96.3%)
Cathedral:	Catedral Basílica de La Asunción, Sigüenza
Co-cathedral:	Concatedral de Santa María la Fuente Mayor de la Salud, Guadalajara
Ordinaries
Bishop:	José Sánchez González

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sigüenza-Guadalajara {Latin: Seguntin(us) – Guadalaiaren(sis)} is a diocese located in the cities of Sigüenza and Guadalajara, Spain in the Ecclesiastical province of Toledo in Spain.

It is in the located in the secular Spanish province of Guadalajara in Castile, central Spain. It is bounded on the north by Soria, on the east by Saragossa and Teruel, on the south by Cuenca and on the west by Guadalajara and Segovia.

[edit] History

589: Established as Diocese of Sigüenza
March 9, 1959: Renamed as Diocese of Sigüenza – Guadalajara

The diocese is very ancient: the fictitious chronicles pretended that St. Sacerdos of Limoges in France had been its bishop; Protogenes was present as Bishop of Sigüenza at the Third Council of Toledo and again the same Protogenes at Gundemar's council in 610; Ilsidclus assisted at the fourth, fifth and sixth councils; Wideric, at the seventh to the tenth; Egica, at the eleventh; Ela, at the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth; Gunderic, at the fifteenth and sixteenth. The succession of bishops continued under the Arab domination: after St. Eulogius, in 851, we find there Sisemund, a man of great sagacity. But later on Sigüenza was so completely depopulated that it does not appear among the cities conquered by Alfonso VI of Castile (1065-1109) when he subdued all this region. The first bishop of Sigüenza, after it had been repeopled, was Bernardo, a native of Agen in France, who had been "capisol" (caput schola, Latin for school head(master)) of Toledo; he rebuilt the church and consecrated it on the Feast of St. Stephen, 1123, and placed in it a chapter of canons regular; he died Bishop-elect of Santiago. On 14 March 1140, Alfonso VII granted the bishop the feudal lordship of Sigüenza, which his successors retained until the fourteenth century, making the diocese a minor prince-bishopric.

After the long episcopate of Bernardo, Pedro succeeded, and was succeeded by Cerebruno, who began the building of the new cathedral. Jocelin, an Englishman, was present with the king at the conquest of Cuenca; he was succeeded by Arderico, who was transferred to Palencia; Martin de Hinojosa, the holy Abbot of Huerta, abdicated the see in 1192, and was succeeded by Rodrigo.

In 1465 Diego López of Madrid, having usurped the mitre, fortified himself there. Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, the Crown Cardinal of Spain, held this diocese together with the archbishopric of Toledo, and enriched his relations by providing establishments for them at Sigüenza. His successor, Cardinal Bernardino de Carvajal, was dispossessed as a schismatic by pope Julius II for his share in the Conciliabulum of Pisa. After that Garcia de Loaisa, Fernando Valdés, Pedro Paeheco and others held this wealthy see. The castle-palace, modified in various ways, suffered much from the storms of civil war, and was restored by Joaquin Fernandez Cortina, who was bishop from 1848, and the restoration was continued by Bishop Gomez Salazar (1876-79).

[edit] Leadership

Bishops of Sigüenza-Guadalajara (Roman rite)
- Bishop José Sánchez González (since 1991.09.11)
- Bishop Jesús Pla Gandía (1981.04.16 – 1991.09.11)
- Bishop Laureano Castán Lacoma (1964.02.07 – 1980.07.25)
- Bishop Lorenzo Bereciartúa y Balerdi (1959.03.09 – 1963.08.06)
Bishops of Sigüenza (Roman rite)
- Bishop Lorenzo Bereciartúa y Balerdi (1955.12.18 – 1959.03.09)
- Bishop Pablo Gúrpide Beope (1951.01.03 – 1955.12.19)
- Archbishop Luis Alonso Muñoyerro (1944.03.29 – 1950.12.12)
- Bishop Eustaquio Nieto y Martín (1916.08.22 – 1936.07.27)
- Bishop Toribio Minguella y Arnedo, O.A.R. (1898.03.24 – 1916.08.22)
- Bishop José María Caparrós y López (1896.06.25 – 1897.01.27)
- Bishop Antonio Ochoa y Arenas (1879.02.28 – 1896.02.18)
- Archbishop Manuel Gómez-Salazar y Lucio-Villegas (1875.09.17 – 1879.02.28)
- Cardinal Francisco de Paula Benavides y Navarrete (1857.12.21 – 1875.07.05)
- Bishop Joaquín Fernández Cortina (1847.10.04 – 1854.03.31)
- Bishop Manuel Fraile García (1819.02.10 – 1837.01.01)
- Bishop Pedro Inocencio Bejarano (1801.02.23 – 1818.12.13)
- Bishop Juan Díaz de La Guerra (1777.06.23 – 1800.09.29)
- Cardinal Francisco Javier Delgado y Venegas (1768.12.19 – 1776.05.20)
- Bishop José Patricio de la Cuesta Velarde (1761.08.17 – 1768.06.07)
- Archbishop Francisco Díaz Santos y Bullón (1750.05.25 – 1761.08.17)
- Bishop José García Fernández, O.F.M. (1726.12.09 – 1749.10.09)
- Bishop Juan Herrera (1722.10.07 – 1726.06.08)
- Bishop Francisco Rodríguez Mendarozqueta y Zárate (1714.04.16 – 1722.02.26)
- Bishop Bartolomé Santos de Risoba (1649.12.19 – 1657.02.08)
- Archbishop Pedro de Tapia, O.P. (1645.04.24 – 1649.08.23)
- Archbishop Pedro González de Mendoza, O.F.M. (1623.10.02 – 1639.07.23)
- Bishop Francisco López de Mendoza (1622.07.08 – 1623.03.01)
- Bishop Sancho Dávila Toledo (1615.07.20 – 1622.07.11)
- Bishop Antonio Benegas Figueroa (1610.10.10 – 1614.10.06)
- Bishop Mateo Burgos Moraleja, O.F.M. (1606.01.16 – 1611.01.26)
- Bishop Lorenzo Figueroa Córdoba, O.P. (1579.06.26 – 1605.01.20)
- Bishop Juan Manuel de la Cerda (1574.06.04 – 1579.01.30)
- Cardinal Diego Espinosa y Arévalo (1568.07.05 – 1572.09.05)
- Bishop Pedro La Gasca (1561.06.02 – 1567.11.20)
- Bishop Francisco Manrique de Lara (1560.06.26 – 1561.11.11)
- Cardinal Pedro Pacheco de Villena (1554.04.30 – 1557.09.20)
- Patriarch Fernando Niño de Guevara (Apostolic Administrator 1546.10.08 – 1552.09.16)
- Archbishop Fernando Valdés (1539.10.29 – 1546.08.27)
- Cardinal García Loaysa y Mendoza, O.P. (1532.02.23 – 1539.05.21)
- Archbishop Fadrique de Portugal Noreña, O.S.B. (1519.06.20 – 1532.02.23)
- Archbishop Pedro González de Mendoza (1468 – 1495)
- Archbishop Alonso Carrillo de Acuña (1436 – 1446)