The Archdiocese of Santo Domingo is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the Dominican Republic. The see was erected 8 August 1511 as the Diocese of Santo Domingo and elevated to archdiocese on 12 February 1546. In recognition of the fact that the see was the first established in the Western Hemisphere, the Archbishop of Santo Domingo can use the title of "Primate of the Indies", according to the bull of Pope Pius VII Divinis praeceptis issued on 28 November 1816 and ratified by the Concordat between the Holy See and the Dominican Republic signed on 16 June 1954. The archiepiscopal see is the Santa María la Menor cathedral, a World Heritage Site, dedicated to St. Mary of the Incarnation, which was designated a minor basilica by Pope Benedict XV in his apostolic letter Inter Americae on 14 June 1920.

Statistics

As per 2014, it pastorally served 3,457,347 Catholics (95.0% of 3,639,313 total) on 4,032 km2 in 214 parishes with 478 priests (190 diocesan, 288 religious), 159 deacons, 2,845 lay religious (610 brothers, 2,235 sisters) and 284 seminarians.

Ecclesiastical province

The Metropolitan's suffragan sees are :

History

Leadership

Erected: August 8, 1511 Elevated February 12, 1546 • Alfonso de Fuenmayor (1538–1554), Died, first archbishop as of 11 February 1546. • Diego de Covarrubias y Leiva (1556–1560), Appointed, Archbishop (Personal Title) of Ciudad Rodrigo. • Juan Salcedo (1562–1566) Died • Juan Alzóloras (Arzolaras) (1566–1568), Appointed, Archbishop (Personal Title) of Islas Canarias • Francisco Andrés de Carvajal (1570–1577) Died • Alfonso López de Avila (1580–1591), Appointed, Archbishop of Santafé en Nueva Granada • Nicolás de Ramos y Santos (1592–1599) Died • Agustín Dávila Padilla (1599–1604) Died • Domingo Valderrama y Centeno (1606–1608), Appointed, Archbishop (Personal Title) of La Paz) • Cristóbal Rodríguez Juárez (1608–1613), Appointed, Archbishop (Personal Title) of Arequipa • Diego de Contreras (1612–1618) Died) • Pedro de Solier y Vargas (1619–1620) Died • Pedro de Oviedo Falconi (1621–1628), Confirmed, Archbishop (Personal Title) of Quito • Fernando de Vera y Zuñiga (1628–1629), Confirmed, Archbishop (Personal Title) of Cuzco • Bernardino de Almansa Carrión (1629–1631), Confirmed, Archbishop of Santafé en Nueva Granada • Facundo de la Torre (1632–1640) Died • Diego de Guevara y Estrada (1640–1642) Died • Maestro Valderas (1647–1648) Resigned • Francisco Pio Guadalupe Téllez (1648–1660) Died) • Francisco de la Cueva Maldonado (1662–1667) Died • Juan de Escalante Turcios y Mendoza (1673–1677) Confirmed, Archbishop (Personal Title) of Yucatán • Domingo Fernández Navarrete (1682–1686) • Fernando de Carvajal y Ribera (1687–1700) Resigned) • Francisco del Rincón (1705–1714), Appointed, Archbishop (Personal Title) of Caracas, Santiago de Venezuela • Antonio Claudio Alvarez de Quiñones (1717–1725), Appointed, Archbishop of Santafé en Nueva Granada • Francisco Mendigaño Armendáriz (1726–1728) Died • Juan de Galabis (1729–1738), Confirmed, Archbishop of Santafé en Nueva Granada • Domingo Pantaleón Álvarez de Abreu (1738–1743), Confirmed, Archbishop (Personal Title) of Tlaxcala (Puebla de los Angeles) • Ignacio Padilla Estrada (1743–1753), Confirmed, Archbishop (Personal Title) of Yucatán • José Moreno Curiel (1753–1755) Died • Felipe Ruiz Ausmendi (1757–1768) Died • Isidro Rodríguez Lorenzo (1767–1788) Retired • Fernando del Portillo y Torres (1788–1798) Appointed, Archbishop of Santafé en Nueva Granada • Pedro Valera y Jiménez (1814–1833) Died • Bienvenudo Monzon y Martin (1862–1866) Died • Fernando Antonio Arturo de Merino y Ramírez (1885–1906) Died • Adolfo Alejandro Nouel y Boba-Dilla (1906–1935) Resigned • Ricardo Pittini (1935–1961) Died • Octavio Antonio Beras Rojas (1961–1981) (Cardinal in 1976) Retired • Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez (1981–2016) (Cardinal in 1991) Retired • Francisco Ozoria Acosta (2016– )

Coadjutor archbishops

Auxiliary bishops

Sources and external links