Almeria

Almeria

A suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Granada in Spain. It is said to have been founded by Indaletius, a disciple of St. James the Greater, at Urci (Vergium). After a long eclipse, its episcopal honour was restored to this little seaport by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1489, on the occasion of the conquest of Granada. In the meantime it had acquired the Arabic name of Almeria (mirror). In 1900 its population, all Catholic, was 230,000. There were 110 parish-priests, 32 vicars, 28 canons and prebendaries, 122 churches, 50 chapels, 3 Dominican convents, and 4 houses of female religious.

BATTANDIER, Ann. pont. cath. (Paris, 1905), 211; Guia del Estado eccl. de España para el año de 1905; FLOREZ, España Sagrada, cont. by RISCO (Madrid, 1754-1850).