Roman Catholic Diocese of Girona

Diocese of Girona Dioecesis Gerundensis
Location
Country	Spain
Metropolitan	Tarragona
Statistics
Area	4,705 km2 (1,817 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2006) 740,214 630,000 (85.1%)
Information
Rite	Latin Rite
Cathedral	Catedral de Santa Maria Mare de Déu
Current leadership
Bishop	Carles Soler Perdigó

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Girona (Latin: Gerunden(sis)) is a diocese located in the city of Girona in the Ecclesiastical province of Tarragona in Spain.

History

The first historical mention of a Christian diocese in Girona is in a paper for Pope Innocent I in 397-400^[1]. On 18 June, 517, a synod convened here was attended by the Archbishop of Tarragona and six bishops; canons were promulgated dealing with the recitation of the Divine Office, infant baptism and the celibacy of the clergy.

About 885 Bishop Ingobert of Urgell was expelled from his see by the intruder Selva, who, under the protection of the Count of Urgell, was consecrated in Gascony. This usurper also unlawfully placed Hermemiro over the see of Girona. In 892 a synod was held in the Church of Santa Maria in Urgell; the two usurpers were deposed, their vestments rent, their crosiers broken over their heads, and they were deprived of their sacerdotal faculties.

A council held in Lleida in 1246 absolved James I of Aragon from the sacrilege of cutting out the tongue of the Bishop of Girona. Another synod at Girona in 1078 affirmed the nullity of simoniacal ordinations.

Honoured with papal prerogatives relating to the pilgrim routes to Santiago de Compostela, the Church of Le Puy assumed a sort of informal primacy in respect to most of the Churches of France, and even of Christendom, manifesting itself practically in a 'right to beg', established with the authorization of the Holy See, in virtue of which the chapter of Le Puy levied a veritable tax upon almost all the Christian countries to support its hospital of Notre-Dame. In Catalonia this droit de quête, recognized by Spanish Crown, was so thoroughly established that the chapter had its collectors permanently installed in that country.

A famous "fraternity" existed between the chapter of Le Puy and that of Girona in Catalonia. The earliest document in which it is mentioned dates only from 1470, and it involves that at this date the chapter of Girona, in order to escape the financial thraldom which bound it, like many Catalonian Churches, to the chapter of Le Puy, alleged its "fraternity" involving its equality—with the Church of Le Puy. In 1479 and in 1481 Pierre Bouvier, a canon of Le Puy, came to Girona, where the canons invoked against him a legend according to which Charlemagne had taken Girona, rebuilt its cathedral, given it a canon of Le Puy for a bishop, and established a fraternity between chapters of Girona and Le Puy. Based on this legend they appealed to the liturgical Office which they chanted for the feast of Charlemagne—an Office, dating from 1345, but in which they had recently inserted these tales of the Church of LePuy. In 1484 Sixtus IV prohibited the use of this Office, whereupon there appeared at Girona the "Tractatus de captione Gerunde", reaffirming the Girona legend about the fraternity with Le Puy.

Down to the last days of the old regime the two chapters frequently exchanged courtesies; canons of Le Puy passing through Girona and canons of Girona passing through Le Puy enjoyed special privileges. In 1883 the removal by the Bishop of Girona of the statue of Charlemagne from that cathedral marked the definitive collapse of the whole fabric of legends out of which the hermandad (brotherhood) between Le Puy and Girona had grown.

On April 10, 1992 the diocese was renamed as Diocese of Girona.

Special churches

• Minor Basilicas:
  • Basílica de Santa Maria, Castelló d’Empúries, Catalonia

Leadership

• Bishops of Girona (Roman rite)
  • Juan de Espés † (19 Feb 1507 - 6 Sep 1508 )
  • Guillermo Raimundo Boil, O.S.H. † (28 Jul 1508 - 28 Nov 1532 )
  • Juan Margarit † (8 Jun 1534 - 21 Oct 1554 )
  • Gonzalo Arias Gallego † (13 Apr 1556 - 22 Aug 1565 )
  • Pedro Carlos, O.S. † (22 Aug 1565 - 1 Jun 1572 )
  • Benito Tocco, O.S.B. † (5 Sep 1572 - 11 May 1583 )
  • Jaime Casador † (12 Dec 1583 - 19 May 1597 )
  • Francisco Arévalo de Zuaco † (2 Apr 1598 - 10 Jan 1611 )
  • Onofre Reart † (19 Dec 1611 - 17 Feb 1621 )
  • Pedro Moncada (14 Dec 1620 - 29 Dec 1621 )
  • Francisco Senjust, O.S.B. (24 Aug 1622 - 10 Mar 1627 )
  • García Gil Manrique (30 Aug 1627 - 28 Nov 1633 )
  • Gregorio Parcero de Castro, O.S.B. (19 Dec 1633 - 29 Nov 1655 )
  • Miguel Juan de Taverner y Rubí (29 Nov 1699 - 1720 )
  • José Taberner (Taverner) Dárdena (16 Dec 1720 - 16 Jan 1726 )
  • Pedro Copóns Copóns (11 Sep 1726 - 15 Dec 1728 )
  • Baltasar Bastero Lladó (15 Dec 1728 - 2 Mar 1745 )
  • Lorenzo Taranco Mujaurrieta (8 Mar 1745 - 3 Feb 1756 )
  • Manuel Antonio Palmero Rallo ( 1756 - 7 May 1794 )
  • Tomás Lorenzana Butrón (13 Mar 1775 - 21 Jan 1796 )
  • Santiago Pérez Arenillas (27 Jun 1796 - 17 Oct 1797 )
  • Juan Agapito Ramírez Arellano (28 Aug 1798 - 21 Dec 1810 )
  • Pedro Valero (15 Mar 1815 - 21 Aug 1815 )
  • Antonio Allué Sesse (14 Apr 1817 - 25 Jul 1818 )
  • Juan Miguel Pérez González (22 Apr 1819 - 7 Dec 1824 )
  • Dionisio Castaño Bermúdez (24 Feb 1825 - 24 Apr 1834
  • Florencio Llorente Montón (17 Dec 1847 Appointed - 17 Jan 1862 )
  • Constantino Bonet Zanuy (21 May 1862 - 17 Sep 1875 )
  • Isidoro Valls y Pascual (23 Sep 1875 - 11 Sep 1877 )
  • Tomás Sivilla y Gener (31 Dec 1877 - 8 Jan 1906 )
  • Francisco de Pol y Baralt (6 Dec 1906 - 6 Jun 1914 )
  • Francisco de Paula Mas y Oliver (10 Apr 1915 - 16 Apr 1920 )
  • Gabriel Llompart y Jaume Santandreu (27 Jun 1922 - 30 Apr 1925 )
  • José Vila y Martínez † (14 Dec 1925 - 1 Sep 1932 )
  • José Cartaña Inglés (29 Dec 1933 - 31 Jul 1963 )
  • Narciso Jubany Arnau (7 Feb 1964 - 3 Dec 1971 )
  • Jaume Camprodon Rovira (1 Sep 1973 - 30 Oct 2001 Retired)
  • Carles Soler Perdigó (30 Oct 2001 - 16 Jul 2008 )
  • Francisco Pardo Artigas (16 Jul 2008 - )

See also

• Roman Catholicism in Spain

References

1. ^ Official website history page

Source

• Catholic Hierarchy
• Diocese website (Catalan)