The diocese of Lleida was created in the 3rd century. After the Moorish conquest of Lleida in 716 the episcopal see was moved to Roda (until 1101) and then to Barbastro (1101–1149). The city of Lleida was conquered from the Moors by the Count Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona in 1149, and the see was again transferred to its original seat. The Bishop's Palace is located in Rambla d'Aragó.
Lleida is one of the most populous cities in Catalonia, built on the right bank of the River Segre, about 100 miles from Barcelona. The town is oriental in appearance, and its streets are narrow and crooked. The population in 1900 was 23,683. The old Byzantine-Gothic Cathedral, of which the ruins are to be seen on the citadel, dates from 1203. During the Middle Ages the University of Lleida was famous; in 1717 it was suppressed, and united with Cervera.
La Canal says that the diocese was erected in 600, but others maintain it goes back to the third century, and there is mention of a St. Lycerius, or Glycerius, as Bishop of Lleida in AD 269.
In 546AD (dated to 524AD in some sources[3]), a Council to regulate ecclesiastical discipline was called in Lerida. The Council prohibited clerics from taking up arms and shedding blood, and addressed issues of abortion, infanticide, incest, and clerical discipline.[4] The Council also addressed a practice that had developed in the Iberian Peninsula, whereby on the death of a bishop, lower ranking clerics (and on occasions the bishops relatives) would ransack and loot the deceased bishops home.[5] The council confirmed that the deceased bishops executors should occupy the bishops residence with guards and defend the premises. Three years later a synod at Valencia changed the protector to the nearest neighboring bishop. Clerics who were caught looting would also be excommunicated.[6] The regulations of the Council were adopted by the General Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church for implementation in all dioceses.[7]
The signatures of other bishops of Lleida are attached to various councils up to the year 716, when the Moors took possession of the town, and the see was removed to Roda. An unbroken list of bishops of Lleida goes back to the year 887.
In 1101 King Pedro I of Aragon took the city of Barbastro from the Moors and transferred the see from Roda to Barbastro. The first bishop, Poncio, went to Rome to obtain the pope's permission for this transfer.
A council in 1173 was presided over by Cardinal Giacinto Bobone, who afterwards became Pope Celestine III. A council in 1246 absolved king James I of Aragon from the sacrilege of cutting out the tongue of the Bishop of Girona.
During the Peninsular War the French held it (1810), and in 1823 Spain once more obtained possession of it. Owing to its natural position its strategic value has always been very great, and it was strongly fortified in 1910.
The cathedral chapter prior to the Concordat of 1851 consisted of 6 dignities, 24 canons, 22 benefices, but after the concordat the number was reduced to 16 canons and 12 beneficed clerics.
In 1910 the Catholic population of the diocese was 185,000, scattered over 395 parishes and ministered to by 598 priests. Besides 395 churches for public worship, there were in the diocese five religious communities of men, six of women, and several hospitals in charge of nuns. The seminary accommodated 500 students.
1995–1998 Segregation of the Western Parishes
In 1995, following the Ilerdensis et Barbastrensis de finum mutatione decree, 84 culturally Catalan La Franja parishes that had traditionally belonged to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lleida for over eight centuries, were segregated and transferred to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Barbastro-Monzón. These were followed by a further 27 parishes in June 1998. The amputated parishes were in the Llitera and Baix CincaCatalan-speaking Aragonese areas.[8]
After the parish segregation a controversy began regarding the return of ancient works of art belonging to the segregated parishes and which were stored at the Lleida Diocesan Museum. The decree and the ensuing controversies were perceived as anti-Catalan measures by many in Lleida and in the concerned parishes, as they were not previously consulted, and part of a strategy to assimilate the La Franja people into the Spanish-speaking mainstream congregation by cutting them off from their cultural roots.[9]
Bishops of Lleida (6th to 9th centuries)
All the names (except the first one) are given in Catalan:
Itxió 203
Sant Filó 227
Joan 230
Pere 258
Màrius Seli 259
c. 269 : St. Lleïr — (Mentioned in 269)
c. 516 : Oronci — (Mentioned between 516 and 517)
c. 519 : Pere
c. 540 : Andreu — (Mentioned in 540)
c. 546 : Februari — (Mentioned in 546)
c. 589 : Polibi — (Mentioned in 589)
c. 592 : Julià — (Mentioned in 592)
c. 599 : Ameli — (Mentioned in 599)
c. 614 : Gomarel — (Mentioned in 614)
c. 635 : Fructuós — (Mentioned between 633 and 638)
c. 653 : Gandelè — (Mentioned in 653)
c. 690 : Eusend — (Mentioned between 683 and 693)
c. 715 : Esteve — (before 714 – after 719)
c. 780 : San Medard — (after 778)
c. 842 : Jacob
After the Moorish conquest the Diocese of Lleida is transferred to Roda.
Bishops of Roda (until 1101)
After the Moorish conquest the Diocese of Lleida is transferred to Roda.
All the names are given in Catalan:
887–922 : Adulf — (since before 887 to 922)
923–955 : Ató
955–975 : Odisend
988–991 : Aimeric — (since before 988 to 991)
996---?--- : Jacob — (since before 996)
1006–1015 : Aimeric II — (since before 1006 to 1015)
^Manuel Guallar Pérez, Los Concilios Tarraconenses celebrados en Lérida (Siglos VI–XV) (Lérida: Gráficas Larrosa, 1975), pp. 24–25.
^Manuel Guallar Pérez, Los Concilios Tarraconenses celebrados en Lérida (Siglos VI–XV) (Lérida: Gráficas Larrosa, 1975), pp. 30–63.
^Rachel L. Stocking, Bishops, Councils, and Consensus in the Visigothic Kingdom, 589-633 page 39.
^Rachel L. Stocking, Bishops, Councils, and Consensus in the Visigothic Kingdom, 589-633 [page 40].
^Joseph Bingham, Origines Ecclesiasticæ: Or, The Antiquities of the Christian Church, and Other Works, of the Rev. Joseph Bingham (W. Straker, 1844) p226.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Lérida". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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