Roman Catholic Diocese of Jaca

Diocese of Jaca Dioecesis Iacensis Diócesis de Jaca
Interior of Jaca Cathedral
Location
Country	Spain
Ecclesiastical province	Pamplona y Tudela
Metropolitan	Pamplona y Tudela
Statistics
Area	5,896 km² (2,276 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2006) 46,800 46,400 (99.1%)
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	1063
Cathedral	Cathedral of St Peter in Jaca
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Julián Ruiz Martorell
Metropolitan Archbishop	Francisco Pérez González
Website
Website of the Diocese

The Diocese of Jaca (Latin, Jaccensis) is located in northeastern Spain, in the province of Huesca, part of the autonomous community of Aragón. The diocese forms part of the ecclesiastical province of Pamplona and Tudela, and is thus suffragan to the Archdiocese of Pamplona y Tudela.

Jaca originally belonged to the diocese of Huesca, but after the Moorish conquest of Huesca in 713 its bishops, (known as the itinerant "Bishops of Aragon"), moved to Aragon. The episcopal seat was established in Jaca during 1063–96, then moved back to Huesca after king Pedro I of Aragon retook the city from the Moors in November 1096. The diocese of Jaca was created in 1572, carved out of the diocese of Huesca.

Jaca, capital of the mountain county of Jacetania, is situated on the left bank of the Aragon River, a tributary of the river Ebro, about 800 meters above sea-level.

The cathedral of Jaca, dedicated to [Saint Peter], is of Romanesque design, built in the 11th century; it was consecrated in the late 11th century and altered in the 15th–18th centuries. There is also a former cathedral, the Iglesia San Adrián de Sasabe, in Sasabe (also in Huesca province).

A religious and civil festival is held on the first Friday of May, locally referred to as "Primer Viernes de Mayo", in memory of a victory said to have been won over the Moors in the 8th century by Count Aznar aided by the women of Jaca. It is celebrated with a solemn procession in which the entire cathedral chapter takes part.

There are many hermitages around Jaca, but none more interesting than that of San Juan de la Peña, esconced within a cave in the Pyrenees. This shrine was also a monastery, royal mausoleum and -allegedly- one of the many hiding places of the Holy Grail in the middle ages. It continues to be a stop along the Camino de Santiago for many pilgrims and tourists. In another cave, dedicated to La Virgen de la Cueva, locals gather annually to pay homage to "Our Lade of the Cave", a venerated shrine where Garcí Ximénez was proclaimed first King of Sobrarbe in the 8th century.

History

Jaca was once the capital of the Jaccetani, a tribe mentioned by Strabo. This territory was the scene of battles between Sertorius and Pompey and later between Pompey's son Sextus and Caesar's generals.

Itinerant bishops of Aragon (713–1063)

Ecclesiastically, Jaca originally belonged to the Diocese of Huesca. When in 713 the town of Huesca was seized by the Moors, the bishop fled and the diocese was directed from Aragon by itinerant bishops, sometimes called bishops of Aragon, sometimes bishops of Huesca or Jaca, who lived either at Jaca or in the neighbouring monasteries of San Juan de la Peña, San Pedro de Siresa and San Adrián de Sasabe.

Among the itinerant bishops of Aragon were:

c. 920: Iñigo
c. 922: Ferriolus
933–947: Fortuño
971–978: Aureolus
c. 981: Atón
1011–1036: Mancius
1036–1057: García
1058–1075: Sancho

Jaca as seat of the bishops of Huesca (1063–1096)

1058–1075: Sancho
1076–1086: García Ramírez
1087–1097: Peter

A council held at Jaca in 1063 determined anew the boundaries of the Diocese of Huesca, which thereafter included the present dioceses of Huesca, Jaca and Barbastro, as well as a part of the Diocese of Lérida. Jaca was then made the permanent seat of the diocese.

At the same time Sancho was appointed Bishop of Huesca (1058–1075) and hastened to request the Pope Alexander II to confirm the decisions of the council. In the same year of 1063, however, King Sancho Ramirez of Aragon (1063–1094) had won back from the Moors the city of Barbastro, and had granted it to the Bishop of Roda. García Ramírez, the new Bishop of Huesca (1076–1086) and brother of the king, regarded this as an infringement of the rights of jurisdiction granted the Bishop of Jaca by the Council of Jaca. He therefore renewed his petition to the new pope (Gregory VII) to have the decisions of the council confirmed, which request the pope granted (cf. Jaffé, "Reg. Pont. Roman", I, 2nd ed., Berlin, 1885, n. 5098). As, however, Bishop Raimundo of Roda also obtained the confirmation of all his privileges from Gregory, a violent dispute arose between the Bishops of Huesca and Roda as to jurisdiction over the churches of Barbastro, Bielsa, Gistao and Alquezar, which in 1080 was decided by the king in favour of the Bishop of Roda.

Episcopal see returns to Huesca (1096–1572)

In November 1096, King Pedro I of Aragon took back Huesca from the Moors and restored the original see. Pope Urban II decreed (May 11, 1098) that, instead of Jaca, Huesca should again be the seat of the bishop, as it had been until the year 713 (cf. Jaffé, "Reg. Pont. Roman", I, 2nd ed., Berlin, 1885, n. 5703). But Jaca itself had a separate existence under a vicar-general, independent of the Bishop of Huesca. It also retained its own cathedral chapter, which originally followed the Rule of St. Augustine, but in 1270 both this chapter and that of Huesca were secularized.

Diocese of Jaca (1572 to the present)

Jaca was again erected into a separate diocese and was made suffragan to the Metropolitan See of Zaragoza by a Bull of Pope Pius V (July 18, 1571), which decision was carried into effect on February 26, 1572. The first bishop was Pedro del Frago.

According to the diocesan statistics of 1907 Jaca possessed 73,659 inhabitants, 151 parishes, 151 parish churches, 239 public and 10 private oratories, 236 secular priests, 30 regulars and 54 sisters. The religious institutes in the diocese are:

Augustinian Hermits, one monastery and novitiate;
Piarists, 2 houses for the training of boys;
Benedictine nuns, 1 convent and 18 professed sisters in the city of Jaca;
Sisters of Mercy of St. Anna, who have charge of the hospital at Jaca;
Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Mary, 1 house at Jaca; sisters of Mercy of St. Vincent de Paul, with a school at Jaca;
Little Sisters of the Aged Poor, with a home for the aged in a suburb of Jaca.

Bishops of Jaca (1572 to the present)

1572–1577: Pedro del Frago
- 1577: Juan Pérez de Arneda (elected, did not assume)
1578–1583: Gaspar Juan de la Figuera
1584–1592: Pedro de Aragón
1592–1594: Diego de Monreal
1594–1606: Malaquías de Aso
1607–1614: Tomás Cortés de Sangüesa
1614–1615: Diego Ordóñez
1615–1616: Pedro Fernández Zorrilla
1616–1617: Felipe Guimerán
1617–1622: Luis Díez Aux de Armendáriz
1623–1626: Juan Estelrich
1627: José de Palafox
1628–1631: Álvaro de Mendoza
1631–1635: Vicente Domec
1635–1646: Mauro de Villarroel
1647–1648: Juan Domingo Briz de Trujillo
1649–1652: Jerónimo de Ipenza
1655–1671: Bartolomé de Fontcalda
1671–1673: Andrés Aznar Navés ^[1]
1673–1674: José de Santolaria
1677–1683: Bernardo Mateo Sánchez de Castellar
1683–1704: Miguel de Frías Espintel
1705–1717: Mateo Foncillos Mozárabe
1717–1720: Francisco Polanco
1721–1727: Miguel Estela
1728: Antonio Sarmiento
1728–1733: Pedro Espinosa de los Monteros
1734–1738: Ramón Nogués
1739–1750: Juan Domingo Manzano Carvajal
1751–1755: Esteban Vilanova Colomer
1756–1776: Pascual López Estaún
1777–1779: Andrés Pérez Bermúdez
1780–1784: Julián Gascueña
1785–1802: José Antonio López Gil
1803–1814: Lorenzo Algüero Ribera
1815–1822: Cristóbal Pérez Viala
1824–1828: Leonardo Santander Villavicencio
1829–1831: Pedro Rodríguez Miranda
1832–1847: Manuel María Gómez de las Rivas
1848–1851: Miguel García Cuesta
1852–1856: Juan José Biec Belio
1857–1870: Pedro Lucas Asensio Poves
1874–1890: Ramón Fernández Lafita
1891–1899: José López Mendoza y García
1900–1904: Francisco Javier Valdés Noriega
1904–1913: Antolín López Peláez
1913–1920: Manuel de Castro Alonso
1920–1925: Francisco Frutos Valiente
1926–1943: Juan Villar Sanz
1946–1950: José Bueno y Monreal
1950–1978: Ángel Hidalgo Ibáñez
1978–1983: Juan Angel Belda Dardiñá
1984–1989: Rosendo Álvarez Gastón
1990–2001: José María Conget Arizaleta
- 2001–2003: Juan José Omella Omella (Apostolic Administrator)
2003–2009: Jesús Sanz Montes
2010–: Julián Ruiz Martorell

Notes

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton.