Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santo Domingo

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santo Domingo (Latin: Archidioecesis Sancti Dominici) (erected 8 August 1511 as the Diocese of Santo Domingo) is a Metropolitan Archdiocese, in the Dominican Republic. It is responsible for the dioceses of Baní, Barahona, Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia en Higüey, San Juan de la Maguana and San Pedro de Macorís.

The see was elevated to an archdiocese on 12 February 1546. Amongst all North and South dioceses of the American continent, only to the Archbishop of Santo Domingo belongs the title of Primate of America, according to the bull of Pope Pius VII Divinis praeceptis on 28 November 1816, and ratified by the Concordat between the Holy See and Dominican Republic, signed on 16 June 1954. The most important parish is the Santa María la Menor cathedral, which has the title, rights and privilege of being Basilica Minor, granted by Benedict XV in his Inter Americae.

History

It was erected by Pope Julius II who by the Bull Pontifex Romanus on that date established also the See of Concepción de la Vega and the See of San Juan of Porto Rico. Three prelates, who had been appointed to the sees comprising the ecclesiastical province created previously (1504) by the same Pope, united their petition to that of the Crown in requesting the Holy See to suppress the same and to establish the three new dioceses as suffragans to the See of Seville. This alteration was effected before any one of the prelates in question had taken possession of his diocese or had received consecration.

Father Francisco Garcia de Padilla, Franciscan, who had been in 1504 the prelate designed to occupy the See of Bayuna (Baynoa, Baiunensis), on the extinction of the same was chosen the first Bishop of Santo Domingo, having been so mentioned in the Bull of the erection of the diocese. He died before his consecration, after having named Rev. Carlos de Aragón his vicar-general and having authorized him to take possession of the diocese in the name of the bishop, who never reached America. The first bishop to occupy the See of Santo Domingo was Alessandro Geraldini, appointed in 1516 and died in 1524. He was a native of Italy, and perhaps the only representative of all America to assist at the Fifth Lateran Council.

Pope Paul III on 12 February 1545, elevated Santo Domingo to the rank of an archdiocese, the incumbent of the see at the time, Bishop Alonso de Fuenmayor, becoming the first archbishop. Santo Domingo as the first metropolitan see of America, according to the terms of the Bull of erection "Super Universas Orbis Ecclesias", had five suffragan sees, as follows: San Juan in Porto Rico, Diocese of Santiago in Cuba, Diocese of Coro in Venezuela, Diocese of Santa Marta of Cartagena, and [[ Roman Catholic Diocese of Trujillo (Honduras)|Diocese of Trujillo]] in Honduras. The Diocese of Concepción de la Vega had been united, after the death of its first bishop, Pedro Suárez de Deza, to the See of Santo Domingo by Apostolic authority. Nothing in the text of the Bull of erection would warrant the use of the title of Primate of the Indies by the archbishop of this see.

The Bull of Pope Alexander VI, dated 24 June 1493, designated the Franciscan Bernardo Buil (Boil) to accompany Columbus on his second voyage of discovery, with faculties as Apostolic delegate or vicar. He did not make the journey, and his Benedictine near-namesake did. On 30 August 1495, a band of Franciscans and other missioners did arrive in Hispaniola.^[1]

Ordinaries

• Francisco Garcia de Padilla, O.F.M. (1511–1515)
• Alejandro Geraldini (1516–1524)
• Luis de Figueroa, O.S.H. (1523-1526), never consecrated
• Sebastián Ramírez de Fuenleal (1527–1531)
• Alfonso de Fuenmayor (1538–1554)
• Diego de Covarrubias y Leiva (1556–1560)
• Juan de Salcedo (1562–1566)
• Juan de Arzolaras, O.S.H. (1566–1568)
• Francisco Andrés de Carvajal, O.F.M. (1570–1577)
• Alfonso López de Avila (1580–1591)
• Nicolás de Ramos y Santos, O.F.M. (1592–1599)
• Agustín Dávila Padilla, O.P. (1599–1604)
• Domingo Valderrama y Centeno, O.P. (1606–1608)
• Cristóbal Rodriguez y Suarez, O.P. (1607–1613)
• Pedro de Solier y Vargas, O.S.A. (1619–1620)
• Pedro de Oviedo Falconi, O. Cist. (1621–1628)
• Fernando de Vera y Zuñiga, O.S.A. (1628–1629)
• Bernardino de Almansa Carrión (1629–1631)
• Facundo de la Torre, O.S.B. (1632–1640)
• Diego de Guevara y Estrada (1640–1642)
• Maestro Valderas, O. de M. (1647–1648)
• Francisco de la Cueva Maldonado (1661–1667)
• Juan de Escalante Turcios y Mendoza (1671–1677)
• Fernando de Carvajal y Ribera, O. de M. (1686–1700)
• Francisco del Rincón, O.M. (1705–1714)
• Antonio Claudio Alvarez de Quiñones (1717–1725)
• Francisco Mendigaño Armendáriz (1726–1728)
• Juan de Galabis, O. Praem. (1729–1738)
• Domingo Pantaleón Álvarez de Abreu (1738–1743)
• Ignacio Padilla Estrada, O.S.A. (1743–1753)
• Felipe Ruiz Ausmendi (1757–1768)
• Fernando del Portillo y Torres, O.P. (1788–1798)
• Pedro Valera y Jiménez (1814–1833)
• Bienvenudo Monzon y Martin (1862–1866)
• Fernando Antonio Arturo de Merino y Ramírez (1885–1906)
• Adolfo Alejandro Nouel y Boba-Dilla (1906–1935)
• Ricardo Pittini, S.D.B. (1935–1961)
• Octavio Antonio Beras Rojas (1961–1981)
• Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez (1981–present)

Bishops

• Archbishop : Nicolás de Jesús Cardinal López Rodrígue
• Auxiliary Bishop : Pablo Cedano Cedano
• Auxiliary Bishop : Amancio Escapa Aparici, O.C.D.
• Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus: Francisco José Arnáiz Zarandon, S.J.

Territorial losses

Year	Along with	To form
1861		Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince Diocese of Les Cayes Diocese of Les Gonaïves Diocese of Cap-Haïtien Diocese of Port-de-Paix
1953		Diocese of La Vega Territorial Prelature of San Juan de la Maguana Diocese of Santiago de los Caballeros
1959		Diocese of Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia en Higüey
1986		Diocese of Baní

External links and references

• "Archdiocese of Santo Domingo". Catholic-Hierarchy. http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dsndo.html. Retrieved 2007-02-15. 

1. ^ http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Archdiocese_of_Santo_Domingo

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). "archdiocese of Santo Domingo". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.