California (titular see)

The Diocese of California, a residential episcopal see from 1840 to 1849, is now a titular see of the Catholic Church.^[1]

History

Pope Gregory XVI set up the Diocese of California with the papal bull Apostolicam sollicitudinem of 27 April 1840. He assigned to the new diocese a vast territory taken from that of the Diocese of Sonora, now the Archdiocese of Hermosillo in Mexico. It included Alta California (corresponding to the present-day states of California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, western Colorado and southwestern Wyoming) and the Baja California Territory {the modern Mexican states of Baja California and Baja California Sur). He set the episcopal residence at San Diego and made the diocese a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Mexico City.^[2]

After the Mexican-American War, Alta California became United States territory and the Holy See divided the diocese into American and Mexican sections. On 20 November 1849, with the episcopal residence moved to Monterey, a more central position for the new diocese, the American section became the Diocese of Monterey. Baja California, the part that remained Mexican, has since become the present Archdiocese of Tijuana, with its suffragan sees of Ensenada, La Paz en la Baja California Sur, and Mexicali.

Titular see

The first titular bishop of California was appointed on 15 June 1996.^[3][4]

References