History
While local tradition and catalogues date back the first bishop, San Eteri, considered a disciple of Saint James the Great, to the very first Apostles, historical evidence seems to be undisputed from the third century onwards, when bishop Pretextat attended the Council of Sardica in 343. During the Visigothic Kingdom, Barcelona became one of the fourteen dioceses of the ecclesiastic province of Tarragona. After the Christian fall in 712, a long sede vacante was ended not before 850, when bishop Joan took office, and the diocese became subjugated to the Carolingian See of Narbonne.
During the Reconquista, bishop Oleguer was called to the archepiscopal see of Tarragona, which he took in 1017, though being granted to keep his Barcelonan see as well, reigning 1114–1137. Barcelona became suffragan to Tarragona once again, and stayed so for the following centuries. Its bishops got used to live in the pontifical or royal courts instead of the city, until bishop Jaume Caçador inducted reforms according to the Council of Trent amidst the 16th century. Disregarding another year-lasting de facto sede vacante from 1808 to 1814 during the Napoleonic Wars, Barcelona and its diocese kept on grewing richer and more powerful.
On 25 March 1964 Pope Paul VI elevated the Diocese of Barcelona to the level of an Archdiocese. However, it has only had the status of a Metropolitan Archdiocese since 2004, when Pope John Paul II dismembered its territory into the Archdiocese of Barcelona and the two new suffraganes of Sant Feliu de Llobregat and Terrassa together with the appointment of Archbishop Sistach.
Read more about this topic: Roman Catholic Archdiocese Of Barcelona
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