Roman Catholic Diocese of Urgell

Diocese of Urgell Dioecesis Urgellensis Diócesis de Urgell (es) Diòcesi d'Urgell (ca)
La Seu d'Urgell Cathedral
Location
Country	Spain and Andorra
Ecclesiastical province	Tarragona
Metropolitan	Tarragona
Statistics
Area	7,630 km2 (2,950 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2010) 202,803 195,270 (96.3%)
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	4th Century
Cathedral	Cathedral of St Mary in Urgell
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Joan Enric Vives i Sicília
Metropolitan Archbishop	Jaume Pujol i Balcells
Map
Website
Website of the Diocese

The Diocese of Urgell is a Roman Catholic diocese in Catalonia, Spain, and Andorra, with origins in the fifth century AD or possibly earlier. It is based in the region of the historical Catalan County of Urgell, though it has different borders. The seat and Cathedral of the bishop are situated in la Seu d'Urgell town. The state of Andorra is a part of this diocese.

Among its most notable events are Bishop Felix's adoptionist revolt, the coup of Bishop Esclua and the overthrowing of the bishop by members of aristocratic families (namely Salla i Ermengol del Conflent, Eribau i Folcs dels Cardona, Guillem Guifré de Cerdanya and Ot de Pallars) between the years 981 and 1122.

Also important is the diocese's patronage of Andorra, with the bishop holding the role of ex officio Co-Prince of the Pyrenean Catalan-speaking nation jointly with the President of the French Republic (and formerly, the King of France). Andorra was ceded to the Bishop of Urgell by the Count Ermengol VI of Urgell in 1133.

Up to 1802, the ecclesiastical border corresponded with the royal one established under the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659. As such the 33 towns of the northern Cerdanya (now in France) came under the diocese's control.

Description of the diocesan territory

The Roman Catholic Church controls the metropolitan church of Tarragona, with its see or capital of the Seu d’Urgell (Urgell See). It contains 7630 km² and a population of 200,761 according to the 2000 census and is the largest bishopric of the eight that have a see in Catalonia. In contrast, it is the most sparsely populated. The diocese borders the bishoprics of Vic, Solsona, Lleida, Barbastro-Monzón, Toulouse, Pamiers and Perpignan. It has been deeply linked for many years to the regions that constituted the counties of Urgell, Pallars and Cerdanya during the Middle Ages, with which it identifies and forms a historical and geographic unit maintained up to the present day. The diocese totally or partially occupies the Ripollès, Cerdanya, Alt Urgell, Segarra, Urgell, Pla d'Urgell, Noguera, Pallars Jussà, Pallars Sobirà, Alta Ribagorça and the Vall d'Aran regions.

The bishopric’s jurisdiction extends to 408 parishes, although today some have a very reduced population. Almost all of the parishes come from distant times, as the very titular saints of their churches. The most common are Saint Mary (in 90 parochial churches, as well as the cathedral), Saint Peter (35), Saint Martin (29), Saint Saturninus (24), Saint Steven (23), Saint Michael (19), Saint Andrew (17), Saint Julian (12), Saint Eulalia (11), Saint Vincent and Saint Felix (10). Many churches of the bishopric, parochial or not, conserve elements of great architectural interest, and thirty-six of them are considered cultural goods of national interest in Spain.

Amongst all Catalonian bishoprics, the Diocese of Urgell has been that which has experienced the most border-related changes throughout its existence, mainly for political reasons: the loss of Ribagorça (9th century), to the benefit of the Diocese of Roda, and the cession of 144 parishes of the Berguedà, the Solsonès and a part of the Segarra, to the benefit of the new diocese of Solsona (1593-1623); later, it was necessary to adapt the territory to the borders between states, and thus in 1803, the 24 parishes of French Cerdagne, which had been ceded to France from the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, also passed ecclesiastically to that country; and in 1804, the 28 from the Aran Valley, a territory circumscribed by France yet united fully to the Catalan-Aragonese territories at least since the 12th century, were annexed to the diocese of Urgell, coming from the eliminated Gascon diocese of Sant Bertran de Comenge. In 1874 the sixty-odd towns that formed the erstwhile exempt jurisdictions of Gerri, Mur, Montodó-Bonrepòs, the order of Saint John of Jerusalem and Meià were annexed to the diocese. Finally, in 1956, the diocese gained the seven parishes of the Artesa de Segre enclave and gave up the 19 of the Franja de Ponent [Western Strip] to Lleida and Barbastre, grouped into three enclaves.

Origin of the Urgell diocese

Frontal from La Seu d'Urgell or of The Apostles, now conserved at MNAC Barcelona.

The diocese, without excluding the possibility of a more remote origin, was already constituted at the beginning of the 6th century. The first known bishop, Saint Justus, figures among the participants of the councils of Toledo (531), Lleida and Valencia (546). His successors also took part regularly in the Toledo councils celebrated throughout the 7th century. The Episcopal succession, despite the uncertainty of names and chronology, seems to not be interrupted by the Saracen invasion of 714.

Monasticism must have been introduced into the diocese during the Visigothic period. The monasteries of Tavèrnoles, Gerri, Codinet, and Tresponts are probably anterior to the Saracen invasion. These foundations and the later ones--la Vedella, Elins, Bagà, la Portella, les Maleses, Villanega, Oveix, Bellera, el Burgal, Lavaix, Alaó, Escales, Ovarra, Taverna, Gualter, etc.--often adopted the Benedictine observance from the 9th century on, following the example of the majority of the coenobitic monasteries then extant in the Marca Hispanica. This became the norm for monastic life in the following century. These monasteries, alongside the parochial and canonical organization (the Urgell Diocese, Solsona, Cardona, Organyà, Ponts, Ager, Mur, Tremp) would greatly influence the Christianization of the country and its human, cultural and economic development.

The canonical monasteries derived into colleges as a result of their secularization (1592), and due to their corruption, the 1851 concord eliminated them, along with the other preexisting ones (Castellbò, Guissona, Balaguer). Mur and Àger were without a doubt the most famous Catalan canonical colleges, exempt from episcopal jurisdiction

Early Middle Ages

Apse from La Seu d'Urgell.

On the first decade of the Umayyad conquest of Hispania, Berber troops set up garrisons on the northernmost hilly regions and towns. Uthman ibn Naissa settled down in Cerdanya, killed the bishop of Urgell, and rebelled against central Cordovan rule in 730. The Berber lord was killed in 731, and the region subdued by Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi.

During the pontificate of the Bishop Felix (781-799), who was accused of adoptionism by the Carolingian theologians and for this motive deposed and confined to Lyon, the city of Urgell and its church were completely destroyed by the Arabs around 793. With the founding of the Marca Hispanica, the diocese, like the others recently restored, became part of the ecclesiastical province of Narbonne until the recreation of the metropolitan see of Tarragona in 1091. The Frankish kings intervened effectively in the country’s reconstruction, promoting the Reconquest laying the foundations of its government. The territory now being free, mainly, from the Moors' power, with the help of the first Catalan Counts, they promoted the construction of a new cathedral, completed in the second part of the 9th century, to which were assigned 289 towns or villages--all the northwestern area of the Pyrenees.

At the same time, the Urgell church, ruled for more than two centuries (914-1122) by members of the Counts' families, fully entered the ring of the feudal system, which allowed it to shape for itself an extensive seigniorial patrimony, which among other cities and territories included the city of Urgell, the valleys of Andorra, the Vall de la Llosa, the Vall d’Arques and the Ribera Salada, the villages of Sanaüja, Guissona, and from 1257 onwards, Tremp. This, however, forced it into a certain dependence on the superior power of the Counts. Also, the Gregorian Reform, introduced to the County of Urgell during the last years of the 11th century, preceded by the change of the Visigothic rite for the Roman rite, reduced those interventions of the laymen in ecclesiastical affairs and achieved the complete freedom of the Church in the spiritual and temporal domains. Moreover, the maintenance of those possessions originated constant tension and fighting throughout the Middle Ages with the Viscounts of Castellbó and his heirs, the Counts of Foix.

List of Bishops of Urgell

Bishops to 1695

Justo bef. 527 – aft. 546 Epigan c. 550 Marcel I c.570 Simplici 589–599 Gabila c. 604 Renari c. 633 Meurell 653–665 Leuderic I 665–683 Jacint ? 672–680 ? Leuberic 683–693 Urbici 693–704 Marcel II 704–721 Just II 721–733 Anambad ? 733–731 Leuderic II 732–754 Esteve 754–765 Dotila 765–783 Félix 783–792 Radulf 792–798 Félix (second time) 798–799 Leidrat de Lió 799–806 Posedoni I 806–819 Sisebut I 819–823 Posedoni II 823–833 Sisebut 833–840

Florenci 840–850 Beat 850–857 Guisad I 857–872 Golderic 872–885 Esclua 885–892 Ingobert 893–900 Nantigis 900–914 Trigilbert 914 Radulf 914–940 Guisad I 940–981 Sal.la 981–1010 Ermengol 1010–1035 Eribau 1035–1040 Guillem Guifredo 1040–1075 Bernat Guillermo 1075–1092 Folc II of Cardona 1092–1095 Guillem Arnau 1092–1095 Ot 1095–1122 Pere Berenguer 1122–1141 Bernat Sanç1141–1162 Bernat Roger 1162–1166 Arnau de Preixens 1166–1195

Bernat de Castelló 1195–1198 Bernat de Vilamur 1198–1203 Pere de Puigvert 1203–1230 Ponç de Vilamur 1230–1257 Abril Pérez Peláez 1257–1269 Pere de Urtx 1269–1293 Guillem de Montcada 1295–1308 Ramon Trebailla 1308–1326 Arnau de Llordat 1326–1341 Pere de Narbona 1341–1348 Niccoló Capocci 1348–1351 Hug Desbac 1351–1361 Guillem Arnau i Palau 1361–1364 Pedro Martínez Luna 1364–1370 Berenguer d'Erill i de Pallars 1370–1387 Galcerà de Vilanova 1387–1415

Francesc de Tovia 1415–1436 Arnau Roger de Pallars 1436–1461 Jaume de Cardona i Gandia 1461–1466 Roderic de Borja i Escrivà 1467–1472 Pere Folc de Cardona 1472–1515 Joan d'Espés 1515–1530 vacant 1530–1532 Pedro Jordán de Urries 1532–1533 Francisco de Urríes 1533–1551 Joan Punyet 1551–1553 Miquel Despuig 1553–1556 Juan Pérez Garcia de Oliván 1556–1560 Pere de Castellet 1561–1571 Joan Dimes Lloris 1571–1576 vacant 1576–1578 Miquel Jeroni Morell 1578–1579 Hug Ambrós de Montcada 1579–1586

vacant 1586–1588 Andreu Capella 1588–1609 Bernat de Salba i Salba 1609–1620 vacant 1620–1622 Luis Díez de Aux y Armendáriz 1622–1627 Antonio Pérez (archbishop) 1627–1632 vacant 1632–1634 Pau Duran 1634–1651 vacant 1651–1655 (due to war) Juan Manuel de Espinosa 1655–1663 vacant 1663–1664 Melcior Palau i Bosca 1664–1670 vacant 1670–1671 Pere de Copons i Teixidor 1671–1681 vacant 1681–1682 Joan Baptista Desbac i Mortorell 1682–1688 vacant 1688–1689 Oleguer de Montserrat i Rufet 1689–1694

Bishops from 1695

Name	Reign
Julià Cano Thebar	1695–1714
Simeó de Guinda i Apeztegui	1714–1737
Jordi Curado i Torreblanca	1738–1747
Sebastià de Victoria Emparán y Loyola	1747–1756
Francesc Josep Catalán de Ocón	1757–1762
Francesc Fernández de Xátiva y Contreras	1763–1771
Joaquín de Santiyán y Valdivielso	1771–1779
Juan de García y Montenegro	1780–1783
Josep de Boltas	1785–1795
Francesc Antoni de la Dueña y Cisneros	1797–1816
Bernat Francés Caballero i Mathet	1817–1824
Bonifaci López i Pulido	1824–1827
Simó de Guardiola i Hortoneda	1827–1851
Josep Caixal i Estradé	1853–1879
Salvador Casañas y Pagés	1879–1901
Ramon Riu i Cabanes	1901
Toribio Martín (Diocesan administrator)1	1902
Joan Josep Laguarda i Fenollera	1902–1906
Josep Pujargimzú (Vicar capitular)1	1907
Juan Benlloch i Vivó	1907–1919
Jaume Viladrich i Gaspa (Vicar capitular)1	1919–1920
Justí Guitart i Vilardebó	1920–1940
Ricard Fornesa i Puigdemasa (Vicar capitular)1	1940–1943
Ramon Iglesias i Navarri	1943–1969
Ramon Malla Call (Apostolic Administrator)1	1969–1971
Joan Martí i Alanis	1971–2003
Joan Enric Vives Sicília (Archbishop, personal title)	2003–present

¹ During a sede vacante.

See also: List of Co-Princes of Andorra

External links

• Website of the Diocese of Urgell