Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santiago de los Caballeros

The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santiago de los Caballeros (Latin: Archidioecesis Metropolitae Sancti Iacobi Equitum) is a Latin Rite Metropolitan Archdiocese in the Dominican Republic.

Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santiago de los Caballeros Archidioecesis Metropolitae Sancti Iacobi Equitum
Location
Country	Dominican Republic
Ecclesiastical province	Province of Santiago de los Caballeros
Metropolitan	Santiago de los Caballeros
Statistics
Area	6,391 km2 (2,468 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2004) 1,065,886 870,635 (81.7%)
Parishes	86
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Latin Rite
Established	25 September 1953 (70 years ago)
Cathedral	Cathedral of St. James the Apostle
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Archbishop	Héctor Rafael Rodríguez Rodríguez
Metropolitan Archbishop	Héctor Rafael Rodríguez Rodríguez
Auxiliary Bishops	Carlos Tomás Morel Diplán
Bishops emeritus	Ramón Benito de La Rosa y Carpio (since Saturday, 23 February 2015 Valentin Reynoso Hidalgo, M.S.C. Freddy Antonio de Jesús Bretón Martínez (appointed by Pope Francis on Saturday, 23 February 2015; formerly, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Baní, in Bani, Dominican Republic)
Map

History

• Established on 25 September 1953 as the Diocese of Santiago de los Caballeros / Sancti Iacobi Equitum (Latin adjective), on territory split off from Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santo Domingo
• Lost territories on 1978-01-16 to establish two suffragan daughters, Diocese of Mao–Monte Cristi and Diocese of San Francisco de Macorís
• Promoted on 14 February 1994 as Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santiago de los Caballeros / Sancti Iacobi Equitum (Latin)
• Lost territory again on 1996-12-16 to establish another suffragan daughter, the Diocese of Puerto Plata.

Statistics

As per 2014, it pastorally served 1,118,000 Catholics (83.7% of 1,336,000 total) on 3,633 km² in 89 parishes and 17 missions with 125 priests (74 diocesan, 51 religious), 132 deacons, 350 lay religious (136 brothers, 214 sisters) and 37 seminarians.

Ecclesiastical province

The Metropolitan has the following suffragan sees :

• Roman Catholic Diocese of La Vega
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Mao-Monte Cristi
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Puerto Plata
• Roman Catholic Diocese of San Francisco de Macorís.

Bishops

(all Roman Rite)

Episcopal ordinaries

Suffragan Bishops of Santiago de los Caballeros

• Apostolic Administrator Octavio Antonio Beras Rojas (1953 – 1956-07-22) while Titular Archbishop of Euchaitæ (1945-05-02 – 1961-12-10) and Coadjutor Archbishop of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) (1945-05-02 – 1961-12-10)
• Hugo Eduardo Polanco Brito (1956-07-22 – 1966-03-14)
• Roque Antonio Adames Rodríguez (1966.03.14 – 1992-04-22)
  • Auxiliary bishop Jesús María de Jesús Moya (1977-04-13 – 1984-04-20)
• Juan Antonio Flores Santana (1992-07-13 – 1994-02-14 see below)

Metropolitan Archbishops of Santiago de los Caballeros

• Juan Antonio Flores Santana (see above 1994-02-14 - 2003-07-16)
  • Auxiliary bishop Diómedes Espinal de León (2000-04-20 – 2006.05-24)
• Ramón Benito de La Rosa y Carpio (2003-07-16 – 2015-02-23)
• Freddy Antonio de Jesús Bretón Martinez (2015-02-23 – ...)
  • Auxiliary bishop Valentin Reynoso Hidalgo, (M.S.C.), (2007-10-22 – ...) Titular Bishop of Mades
  • Auxiliary Bishop Carlos Tomás Morel Diplán, (2016-12-14 – ...) Titular Bishop of Capo della Foresta
• Héctor Rafael Rodríguez Rodríguez, (2023 - present)

Auxiliary bishops

• Hugo Eduardo Polanco Brito (1953-1956), appointed Bishop here
• Jesús María de Jesús Moya (1977-1984), appointed Bishop of San Francisco de Macorís
• Diómedes Espinal de León(2000-2006), appointed Bishop of Mao-Monte Cristi
• Valentín Reynoso Hidalgo, M.S.C. (2007-2018)
• Carlos Tomás Morel Diplán (2016- )

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops

• Gregorio Nicanor Peña Rodríguez, appointed Bishop of Puerto Plata in 1996
• José Amable Durán Tineo, appointed auxiliary bishop of Santo Domingo in 2020

See also

• List of Catholic dioceses in the Dominican Republic

Sources and external links

• GCatholic - data for all sections
• Official website of the Archdiocese of Santiago de los Caballeros Archived 2012-01-03 at the Wayback Machine
• "Archdiocese of Santiago de los Caballeros". Catholic-Hierarchy. Retrieved 2007-02-15.
• Conferencia del Episcopado Dominicano (Bishops' Conference)