Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/862

 SIGUENZA

788

SIGUENZA

Florence, London, Liverpool, Berlin, Milan, Paris, Perugia, and Rome.

Vasari', Vile dei PiUori (Florence, 1878).

George Charles Williamson.

Sigiienza, Diocese of (Seguntina, Segonti.e), in Spain, suffragan of Toledo, bounded on the north by Soria, on the eavSt by Saragossa and Teruel, on the south by Cuenca, and on the west by Guadalajara and Sego^•ia. It lies in the civil provinces of Guadala- jara, Segovia, Soria, and Saragossa. Its episcopal city has a population of 5000. The site of the ancient Segoncia, now called Villavieja, is at half a league distant from the present Sigiienza; Livy speaks of the to'n-n in treating of the wars of Cato with the Celti- bcrians. The diocese is very ancient: the fictitious chronicles pretended that St. Sacerdos of Limoges had been its bishop; but, apart from these fables, we find Protogenes as Bishop of Sigiienza at the Third Council of Toledo, and again the same Protogenes at Gundemar's council in 610; Ilsidclus assisted at the fourth, fifth, and sixth councils; Wideric, at the seventh to the tenth; Egica, at the eleventh; Ela, at the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth; Gunderic, at the fifteenth and sixteenth. The succession of bishops continued under the Arab domination: after St. Eulogius, in 851, we find there Sisemund, a man of great sagacity. But later on Sigiienza was so com- pletely depopulated that it does not appear among the cities conquered by Alfonso VI when he subdued all this region. The first bishop of Sigiienza, after it had been repeopled, was Bernardo, a native of Agen, who had been " capiscol " (caput scholcc — schoolmaster) of Toledo; he rebuilt the church and consecrated it on the Feast of St. Stephen, 1123, and placed in it a chapter of canons regular. He died Bishop-elect of Santiago. On 14 March, 1140, Alfonso VII granted the bLshop the lordship of Sigiienza, which his suc- cessors retained until the fourteenth century.

After the long episcopate of Bernardo, Pedro suc- ceeded, and was succeeded by Cerebruno, who began the building of the new cathedral. Jocelin, an Eng- lishman, was present with the king at the conquest of Cuenca; he was succeeded by Arderico, who was transferred to Palencia; Martin de Hinojosa, the holy Abbot of Huerta, abdicated the see in 1192, and was succeeded by Rodrigo.

Sigiienza took a large part in the civil wars of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The fortress- palace of the bishops was captured in 1297 by the partisans of the Infantes de la Cerda, and in 1355 it was the prLson of the unhappy Blanche of Bourbon, consort of Pedro the Cruel. In 1465 Diego L6pez of RIadrid, having usurped the mitre, fortified himself there. Pedro Gonzdlez de Mendoza, the Cardinal of Spain, held this diocese together with that of Toledo, and enriched his relations by providing establishments for them at Sigiienza. His successor. Cardinal Ber- nardino de Carvajal, was dispossessed, as a schismatic by Julius II, for his share in the Conciiiabulum of Pisa. After that Garcia de Loaisa, Fernando Vald6s, Pedro Pacheco, and others held this wealthy see. The castle-palace, modifi(!d in various ways, suffered much from the stornLs of civil war, and was restored by Joaquin Fernandez Ojrtina, who was bishop from 1H4H, and the restoration was continued by Bishop G6mez Salazar (1870-79).

The cathedral is a very massive Gothic edifice of ashlar stone. Its f:i^-a/le has three doors, with a railed court in front. At the sides rise two square towers, 164 feet high, with merlons topped with large balls; these towers are c^jnnected by a balustrade which crowns the fa^a^^le, the work of Bishop Herrera in the eighteenth century. The interior is divided into three Gothic naves. The main choir begins in the transept with a Renaissance altar built by order of Bishop Matff) de Burgos. In the transept is the Chapel of St. Librada, patronesa of the city, with a Hplcndid

reredos and the relics of the saint, all constructed at the expense of Bishop Fadrique de Portugal, who is buried there. What is now the Chapel of St. Cath- erine was dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury by the English Bishop Jocelin, who came with Queen Leonora. Cardinal Mendoza is interred in the main choir. Beyond the choir projjer, which is situated in the centre, there is the sumptuous altar of Nuestra Senora la Mayor. Connected with the chiu-ch is a beautiful Florid Gothic cloister, the work of Bernar- dino de Carvajal. The rich tabernacle, with its golden monstrance, was given by Cardinal Mendoza. The chapter house contains many excellent paintings. It is not known with any certainty at what period this church was begun, though it appears to date from the end of the twelfth century. The image of Nuestra Senora la Mayor, to whom the church is dedicated, dates from the end of the twelfth century; it was taken to the retro-choir in the fifteenth century, the Assump- tion being substituted for it on the high altar.

The Conciliar Seminary of San Bartolome is due to Bishop Bartolome Santos de Risoba (1651). There is a smaller seminary, that of the Immaculate Con- ception, and a college. The College of San Antonio el Grande is a beautiful building. It was formerly a university, founded in 1476 by the wealthy Juan L6pez de Medina, archdeacon of Almdzan, but its pro.sperity was hindered by the foundation of the University of Alcald; in 1770 it was reduced to a few chairs of philosophy and theology, and was suppressed in 1837. Worthy of mention are the ancient hermit- age of Nuestra Senora, which, according to tradition, had been originally the pro -cathedral; the Humil- ladero, a small Gothic hermitage; the Churrigueresque convent of the Franciscans; the modern convent of the Ursuhnes, which was formerly the home of the choir boys; the hospital of the military barracks; and the Hieronymite college.

Fl6rez, Espana Sagrada, VIII (3rd ed., Madrid); Cuadrado, Castilla la Nueva in Espana, sus monumejitos y arles, II (Bar- celona, 1886); DE LA FuENTE, Hist. de las universidades de Espana, II (Madrid, 1885) ; O'Reilly, Heroic Spain (New York, 1910); Rudy, The Cathedrals of Northern Spain (Boston, 1906).

Ram6n Ruiz Amado.

University of SigIjenza. — The building of the College of San Antonio Portaccli of Sigiienza, Spain, which was later transformed into a university, was be- gun in 1476. Its founder was Don Juan L6pez de Medina, archdeacon of Almazan, canon of Toledo, and vicar-general of Sigiienza. The Bull ratifying the foundation, approving the benefices, etc., was granted by Sixtus IV in 1483, and courses were opened in the- ology, canon law, and arts. By a Bull of Innocent VIII in 1489, the university was created, with powers to confer the degrees of bachelor, licentiate, and doc- tor; the college was thus transformed into a university. A Bull issued by Paul III extended the course in theology, and, during the rectorate of Maestro Velo- sillo, the chains of physics were created, while a Bull of Julius 11 established the faculties of law and of medi- cine. Among tlic professors were Pedro Ciruelo, who enhanced the prestige of tlic university as a (U'litre of learning; Don Francisco Delgado, Hisliopof Lugo, who was rector, and under whom the university reached its period of greatest sjjlendour; Don Fernando Velosillo, rector and professor, was .sent by Pliilip II to the Council of Trent. There wen; also present at that council, as theologians, Don Antonio Torres, first Bishop of the Canary Islands, and Senor Torro, both professors of this university; Don Pedro Guerrero, Archbi.shop of Granada; the famous Cuesta; Tricio and Francisco Alvarez, Bishoj) of Sigiienza. It is thus evident that the influence of the Univer.sity of Sigiienza in Church and State was considerable in the last years of the fifteentli (entury and the first years of th(! sixteenth; thereafter it fell into decay. It was 8uppre.s.sed in 1837.

Archivo del Inalilulo de Guadalajara; Ltgajoa 1° y if, etc., de lot