The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Seville () is a

Latin Church The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical ...

archdiocese of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. The Diocese of Seville was founded in the 3rd century. It was raised to the level of an archdiocese in the 4th century. The current

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

is José Ángel Saiz Meneses. It has the

suffragan diocese A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandr ...

s of: * Cádiz y Ceuta * Córdoba *

Huelva Huelva ( , , ) is a municipality of Spain and the capital of the Huelva (province), province of Huelva, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. Located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits betwee ...

* Canaries *

Jerez de la Frontera Jerez de la Frontera () or simply Jerez, also cited in old English-language sources as , is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Sp ...

* San Cristóbal de La Laguna o Tenerife

Early history

During

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

times

was the capital of the Province of

Baetica Hispania Baetica, often abbreviated Baetica, was one of three Roman provinces created in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula) in 27 BC. Baetica was bordered to the west by Lusitania, and to the northeast by Tarraconensis. Baetica remained one of ...

, and the origin of the diocese goes back to apostolic times, or at least to the 1st century. Saint Gerontius, Bishop of

Italica Italica () was an ancient Ancient Rome, Roman city in Hispania; its site is close to the town of Santiponce in the province of Seville, Spain. It was founded in 206 BC by Roman general Scipio Africanus, Scipio as a ''Colonia (Roman), colonia'' f ...

, preached in

, and without doubt must have left a pastor of its own to

. It is certain that in 303, when Saints Justa and Rufina were

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

ed for refusing to adore a pagan idol, there was a Bishop of Seville named Sabinus, who assisted at the Council of Illiberis in 287. ''Zeno'' (472–486) was appointed

vicar apostolic A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

Pope Simplicius Pope Simplicius (died 2 or 10 March 483) was the bishop of Rome from 468 to his death on 10 March 483. He combated the Eutychian heresy, ended the practice of consecrating bishops only in December, and sought to offset the effects of Germanic i ...

, and

Pope Hormisdas Pope Hormisdas (;"Hormisdas, St." in William Darrach Halsey, ''Collier's Encyclopedia'' Volume 12, Macmillan Educational Company, 1984, p. 244. c. 450 – 6 August 523) was the bishop of Rome from 20 July 514 to his death on 6 August 523. His pa ...

gave the same charge to Bishop Sallustius in the provinces of Baetica and

Lusitania Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province encompassing most of modern-day Portugal (south of the Douro River) and a large portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and Province of Salamanca). Romans named the region after th ...

. However, the see was rendered illustrious above all by the holy brothers Saints Leander and

Isidore Isidore ( ; also spelled Isador, Isadore and Isidor) is a masculine given name. The name is derived from the Greek name ''Isídōros'' (Ἰσίδωρος, latinized ''Isidorus'') and can literally be translated to 'gift of Isis'. The name has survi ...

. The former of these contributed to the conversion of Saint Hermengild and Recared, and presided at the

Third Council of Toledo The Third Council of Toledo (589) marks the entry of Visigothic Spain into the Catholic Church, and is known for codifying the filioque clause into Western Christianity."Filioque." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian churc ...

in 589. While the latter presided at the Fourth Council of Toledo and was the teacher of

medieval Spain Spain in the Middle Ages is a period in the history of Spain that began in the 5th century following the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ended with the beginning of the early modern period in 1492. The history of Spain is marked by waves o ...

. The king's son ''Philip'' was appointed

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of Seville, while he was given as

coadjutor The term "coadjutor" (literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadjutor bishop ...

the Dominican Raimundo de Losada, Bishop of Segovia, who became archbishop five years later, on the abdication of the

Infante Infante (, ; f. ''infanta''), also anglicised as "infant" or translated as "prince", is the title and rank given in the Iberian kingdoms of Spain (including the predecessor kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, Navarre, and León) and Portugal to the ...

. In addition to the cathedral chapter, another community of clerics was formed to sing the Divine Office in the Chapel Royal of Our Lady of the Kings (Nuestra Senora de los Reyes) about 1252. Most of the other mosques of the city were converted into churches, but Santa María la Blanca, Santa Cruz, and San Bartolome were left to the Jews for

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

s. The cathedral originated in the great

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

which was the work of the

emir Emir (; ' (), also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic language, Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocratic, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person po ...

s who built the

Aljama ''Aljama'' (, , ) is a term of Arabic origin used in old official documents in Spain and Portugal to designate the self-governing communities of Moors and Jews living under Christian rule in the Iberian Peninsula. In some present-day Spanish cit ...

, rebuilt in 1171 by the

Almohad The Almohad Caliphate (; or or from ) or Almohad Empire was a North African Berber Muslim empire founded in the 12th century. At its height, it controlled much of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus) and North Africa (the Maghreb). The Almohad ...

emir, Yusuf-ben Yacub. The famous tower called the

Giralda The Giralda ( ) is the bell tower of Seville Cathedral in Seville, Spain. It was built as the minaret for the Great Mosque of Seville in al-Andalus, during the reign of the Almohad dynasty, with a Renaissance-style belfry added by the Catholics ...

is due to

Almanzor Abu ʿĀmir Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn Abi ʿĀmir al-Maʿafiri (), nicknamed al-Manṣūr (, "the Victorious"), which is often Latinized as Almanzor in Spanish, Almansor in Catalan language, Catalan and Almançor in Portuguese ( 938 – 8 A ...

. In order to secure the liturgical orientation, when the mosque was converted into a cathedral its width was made the length of the new church; and it was divided into two parts, the lesser part, on the cast, being separated from the rest by a

balustrade A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its ...

and grating, to form the chapel royal.

List of bishops and archbishops of Seville

Early bishops

1300 to 1500

1500 to 1700

1700 to 1900

1900 to present

* Marcelo Spinola y Maestre (2 December 1895 – 20 January 1906) (Cardinal in 1905) * Salvador Castellote y Pinazo (6 December 1906 – 23 December 1906) * Enrique Almaraz y Santos (18 April 1907 – 16 December 1920) (Cardinal in 1912), appointed Archbishop of Toledo * Eustaquio Ilundáin y Esteban (16 December 1920 – 10 August 1937) (Cardinal in 1925) * Pedro Segura y Sáenz (14 September 1937 – 8 April 1957) (Cardinal in 1927 upon appointment as Archbishop of Toledo the same year) * José Bueno y Monreal (8 April 1957 – 22 May 1982) (Cardinal in 1958) * Carlos Amigo Vallejo (22 May 1982 – 5 November 2009) (Cardinal in 2003) * Juan Asenjo Pelegrina (5 November 2009 – 17 April 2021) * José Ángel Saiz Meneses (17 April 2021 – present)

Auxiliary bishops

References

External links

Archidiócesis de SevillaCentro de Estudios Teológicos de Sevilla
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seville

* Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Seville