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'Barbastro' (Latin ''Barbastrum'' or ''Civitas Barbastrensis'', Arabic ''Barbastra'') is suffragan diocese of the Spanish province of Huesca the Comunidad Autonoma de Aragon. The city (originally, perhaps, 'Barbastra' or 'Bergiduna') is at the junction of the rivers Cinca and Vero.

Contents

Arab Town

Aragonese Control

See also

Source

Arab Town

The area was taken by the Arabs, under the leadership of Musa bin Nusair (717), and the name Madyar was given to the village, It was settled by the Banu Jalaf clan who built the town Barbastra and made it the capital of the Emirate of Barbineta and Huesca until 862 and Emirate of Brabstra until 882. Then the city was ruled by the Emirate of Siracusa Zaragoza until 1064, when it invaded by Sancho Ramírez, King of Aragón, and Christian forces, led by William VIII of Aquitaine and Le Bon Normand, the town suffered a great massacare and around 50,000 of its population were decimated in the so-called War of Barbastro. The Arabs retook the town easily in 1065, few years later Armengol IV, Count of Urgel, reconquered it. However, the Almoravids pressure from the south brought the town back to Arab control for the third time. Finally, the Aragonese managed to take complete control of the city in 1101 by Pedro I,

Aragonese Control

King of Aragon, who, with the pope's consent, constituted it an episcopal see, transferring the see from the ancient city of Roda to Barbastro. The first bishop, Poncio, went to Rome to obtain the pope's permission for this transfer. Many provincial and diocesan councils have been held in the city since; the Cortes of Spain has met there occasionally, and during one of its sessions, King Ramiro II, called "the Monk", abdicated the crown (1134).
The diocese is bounded on the north by the Pyrenees, on the east and south by the diocese of Lérida, and on the west by those of Huesca and Jaca. It is a suffragan of Zaragoza and in 1908, it was composed of 154 parishes under the supervision of ten archpriests, or vicars. The population was about 240,000. The clergy numbered about 220, and there were 231 churches and 177 chapels. The diocese was annexed to the diocese of Huesca in the 16th century, but was afterwards made independent and remained so until the Concordat of 1851, which annexed it once more to Huesca, preserving its name and administration. It is administered at present by the titular Bishop of Claudiopolis, Don Juan Antonio Ruano, preconized Bishop of Lérida. Among its bishops, Ramon II, who is venerated as a saint, and the above-mentioned Ramiro, called "the Monk", a prince of the royal house of Aragon, deserve special mention.
Bartolomé and Lupercio Argensola, historians and classical Spanish writers, were born in Barbastro. Bartolomé is the author of the "Historia de las Molucas", "Anales de Aragón", and "Regla de Perfección"; Lupercio wrote three tragedies, "Isabel", "Jebe", and "Alejandro", and some poems published with others written by his brother Bartolomé. The cathedral, the episcopal palace, the seminary, and the college of the Clerks Regular of the Pious Schools, or Piarists, are among the most noted buildings in the city.
The Opus Dei Founder, the Roman Catholic priest Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer was born in Barbastro.
Besides the seminary for the education of young ecclesiastics, there were in the early 20th century in the diocese various religious communities of both sexes devoted to a contemplative life and the education of the young: the Piarists, the Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Poor Clares and the Capuchine nuns in the capital, the Benedictines in the town of Pueyo and the Discalced Carmelites in Graus and Salas-Altas; and schools in all the towns of the diocese.

See also

★ Diocese of Barbastro-Monzón.

Source

★

★ The Historic Atlas of Iberia