Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Valencia in Spain

Roman Catholic archdiocese in Spain

The Archdiocese of Valencia (Archidioecesis Valentinus) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church located in north eastern Spain, in the province of Valencia, part of the autonomous community of Valencia. The archdiocese heads the ecclesiastical province of Valencia, with authority over the suffragan dioceses of Ibiza, Majorca, Minorca, Orihuela Alicante and Segorbe Castellón. The archbishops are seated in Valencia Cathedral. On 28 August 2014, Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera as the next archbishop of Valencia.

The city of Valencia is in the region known in ancient days as Edetania. Florus says that Junius Brutus, the conqueror of Viriathus, transferred thither (140 B. C.) the soldiers who had fought under the latter. Later it was a Roman military colony. In punishment for its adherence to Sertorius it was destroyed by Pompey, but was later rebuilt, and Pomponius Mela says that it was one of the principal cities of Hispania Tarraconensis. Nothing positive is known about the introduction of Christianity into Valencia, but at the beginning of the 4th century when Dacianus brought the martyrs Saint Valerius, Bishop of Saragossa, and his deacon, Saint Vincent of Huesca, to Valencia, the Christians seem to have been numerous. Saint Vincent suffered martyrdom at Valencia; the faithful obtained possession of his remains, built a temple over the spot on which he died, and there invoked his intercession.

The first historically known Bishop of Valencia is Justinianus (531 546), mentioned by St. Isidore in his Viri illustres. Justinianus wrote Responsiones, a series of replies to a certain Rusticus. Bishops of Valencia attended the various councils of Toledo. Witisclus, present at the Sixteenth Council of Toledo (693), was the last bishop before the Mohammedan invasion.

Abdelazid, son of Muzza, took the city in c. 712 and, breaking the terms of surrender, pillaged it; he turned the churches into mosques, leaving only one to the Christians. This was without doubt the present Church of San Bartolomé or that of San Vincente de la Roqueta. Valencia was in the power of the Moors for more than five centuries. It is said that at the time of the Moorish invasion the people of Valencia placed the body of Saint Vincent in a boat and that the boat landed on the cape which is now called São Vincente. The King of Portugal, Afonso Henriques, found the body and transferred it to Lisbon. El Cid (Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar) reconquered Valencia for the first time on 15 June 1094, turned nine mosques into churches, and installed as bishop the French monk Jérôme. On the death of the Cid (in July 1099), his wife, Doña Ximena, retained power for two years, when Valencia was besieged by the Almoravids; although the king Alfonso VI of Castile drove them from the city, he was not strong enough to hold it. The Christians set fire to it, abandoned it, and the Almoravid Masdali took possession of it on 5 May 1109.

James the Conqueror, with an army composed of French, English, Germans, and Italians, laid siege to Valencia in 1238, and on 28 September of that year forced a surrender. 50,000 Moors left the city and on 9 October the king, followed by his retinue and army, took possession. The principal mosque was turned into a church, Mass was celebrated, and the Te Deum sung. The see was re established, ten parishes being formed in the city; the Knights Templar and Hospitallers who had helped in the conquest, also Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians, Mercedarians, and Cistercians, opened houses. The Church of Sant Vincent outside the walls was rebuilt and beside it a hospital. The consecration of the Dominican Berenguer de Castellbisbal, bishop elect of the See of Valencia after the reconquest, was prevented because of the dispute between the Archbishops of Toledo and Tarragona for jurisdiction over the new see. Pope Gregory IX decided in favour of Tarragona, and, as Berenguer had been appointed Bishop of Girona in the meantime, Ferrer de Sant Martí, provost of Tarragona (1239–43), was appointed Bishop of Valencia. He was succeeded by the Aragonese Arnau de Peralta (1243–48) who drove the Bishop of Segovia, Pedro Garcés, from his see. The third bishop of Valencia, the Dominican Andreu d'Albalat (1248–76), founder of the Carthusian monastery, began the construction of the cathedral; this was continued and finished by his successors: Jaspert de Botonach, Abbot of San Felin (1276–88); the Aragonese Dominican, Raimundo de Pont (1288–1312); the Catalan Ramón Gastó (1312–48); Hug de Fenolet, formerly Bishop of Vic (1348–56); and Vidal de Blanes (1356–69). Jaume of Prades and Foix, Bishop of Tortosa and first cousin of king Peter IV, succeeded to the see in 1369. Hitherto the chapter had elected the bishops, but owing to the dissensions at the death of Bishop Vidal de Blanes, Pope Urban IV reserved the right to name the bishops until 1523, when the right of presentation was granted to the Spanish kings. At the death of Jaume of Prades (1396), the antipope Benedict XIII kept the see vacant for more than two years, and then appointed Hugo de Lupia, Bishop of Tortosa (1398–1427). He was succeeded by Alfonso de Borja (then Pope Callixtus III). The latter appointed Rodrigo de Borja (then Pope Alexander VI) to the See of Valencia.

Rodrigo de Borja obtained from Pope Innocent VIII the rank of metropolitan for his see (1492) and, after he was raised to the papacy (Pope Alexander VI), confirmed this decree. He also raised the studium generale of Valencia to the rank of a university, conferring upon it all the privileges possessed by other universities. César Borgia bore the title of Archbishop of Valencia, and was succeeded by Juan de Borja y Llansol, Pedro Luis de Borja, and Alfonso de Aragón, illegitimate son of Ferdinand the Catholic and also Archbishop of Saragossa (1512–1520). The episcopate of the Augustinian St. Thomas of Villanova (1544–55), founder of the Colegio de la Presentación de Nuestra Señora, called also Colegio de Santo Tomás, was one of the most notable in the history of Valencia. St. Thomas was beatified (1619) by Pope Paul V, and canonized (1658) by Pope Alexander VII. His successors, Francisco de Navarra y Hualde and Martín Pérez de Ayala, who attended the Council of Trent, were also men of distinction. Perhaps the most noted of all the archbishops of Valencia was the Patriarch Juan de Ribera (1569–1611). He decided to expel the Moors from the city, after exhausted all possible means to bring them to submission. He founded the Colegio de Corpus Christi and furthered the work of monastic reform, especially among the Capuchins, whom he had brought to Valencia. Many holy men shed lustre upon this era, including Saint Louis Bertram, the Franciscan Nicolás Factor, the Carmelite Francisco de Niño Jesús, and the Minim Gaspar Bono. The archbishop and inquisitor general, Juan Tomás Rocaberti, publicly punished the Governor of Valencia for interfering in ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Andrés Mayoral Alonso de Mella (1738–69) improved the system of charities and public instruction, founded the Colegio de las Escuelas Pías, and the Casa de Enseñanza for girls. He collected a library of 12,000 volumes; this was burnt in the War of Independence.

El Cid (Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar) conquered Valencia in 1094. 10 –1094 : Zaet al Matran
1096–1102 : Jerónimo de Périgord — (c. 1096 – 1102 ?) In 1101 king Alfonso VI of Castile ordered the evacuation of Valencia, and the Almoravids took it.