San Juan, Diocese of (Sancti Joannis de Cuyo), in the Argentine Republic at the foot of the Cordillera of the Andes between 28° and 41° S. lat. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires and comprises the civil Provinces of San Juan, Mendoza, and San Luis, and the national district of Neuquén, has an area of 151,096 sq. miles and a population of 540,000. These provinces were a part of the Archdiocese of Santiago de Chile until 1776, when they passed under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Córdoba. In 1826 they were constituted into a vicariate Apostolic, and on 19 Sept., 1834, Gregory XVI erected the Diocese of San Juan de Cuyo. The first bishop was Fray Justo de Santa Maria de Oro, a prominent figure in the history of Argentina. He was the representative from San Juan to the Congress of Tueumán, which, on 9 July, 1816, proclaimed the independence of Argentina, and in this assemblage distinguished himself by resolutely opposing the monarchical form of government for the infant nation. He died in 1838, and a handsome bronze statue has been erected to him in the principal square of the city of San Juan. He was succeeded by: Jose Manuel Eufracio de Quiroga Sarmiento, who died on 25 Jan., 1852; Fray Nicolás Aldazor, died in 1866; Fray José Wenceslav Achaval, who founded the seminary and established the cathedral chapter, and died on 25 Feb., 1898; and the present incumbent, Fray Marcolino del Carmelo Benavente, to whom is due the erection of the statue of Christ the Redeemer at the crest of the Andes, on the boundary line between Chile and Argentina, as a symbol of peace and good will between the two nations. Mgr. Benavente was born at Buenos Aires on 17 Aug., 1845; entered the Dominicans, and was appointed bishop on 7 Jan., 1899. There are four Catholic primaiy schools for boys, seventeen schools for girls, and one Catholic agricultural college in the diocese. A Catholic daily paper, "El Porvenir", is published at San Juan, and ranks highest among the daily papers of the entire province. There are one or more confraternities attached to all parish churches to encourage piety and devotion. Among the notable edifices of the diocese may be mentioned: the episcopal palace and the Church of San Domingo in San Juan; those of San Francisco, Sagrado Corazon, and Godoy Cruz in Mendoza; and the Matriz of San Luis. At the present time a project has been laid before the National Congress to divide this diocese into three, viz., San Juan, San Luis, and Mendoza.
Sankt Pölten, Diocese of, in Lower Austria, de- rives its name and origin from Fanum Snncli Hippo- lyti, a monastery founded there in the ninth cen- tury and dedicated to St. Hippolytus. The origin of this monastery is obscure. Some think that monks from Lake Tegernsee in Bavaria founded a Benedic- tine abbey on the Traisen in 791, when Charlemagne united a part of the territory of the Avars with his em- pire, and Passau took this district as a mission field. In the ninth century Sankt Polten was the eastern limit of Christian civilization, the only monastery east of the Enns. It is said that the monastery was trans- ferred to secular canons in 985, and in 1080 the great reformer Altmann of Passau replaced these by Re- formed Augustinian Canons. The first provost was Engelbert. The bishops of Passau attached much importance to the spiritual and material improvement of this important support of their power in the east. Hefele in his "Konziliengeschichte" (VI, pt. II, 230-2) gives the decisions of the synod that Bishop Gottfried of Passau held at Sankt Polten in 1284. These were of importance: if a priest celebrates solemnly the wed- ding of his son or his daughter, he is to be suspended; the secular clergy, pastors, vicars, and chaplains must confess their more serious sins to the dean, the latter
to the bishop or archdeacon; everyone may confess
less serious sins and negligences to whom he will.
Annates are mentioned even at this early date; "the
first year of the episcopal collation of vacant churches
is used for the church at Passau". Another synod
was held at Sankt Polten ten years later.
The Old C
Soon after this (130Gj llic city came \ cry near de- struction. As in other places stories were current of sacrilegious acts of Jews, especially of pierced and bleeding Hosts. These tales led to the founding of churches of the Sacred Blood; and at Sankt Polten, as elsewhere, the Jews were robbed and murdered. Only the intercession of Bishop Wernhart prevailed upon King Albert I not to destroy the city. When the Ref- ormation began, the monastery of Augustinian Can- ons was not strong enough to withstand it; in 1565 there were only three canons. Aid, however, was given by Klesl (q. v.) and the Jesuits, through whose efforts many citizens were converted. Part of one of Klesl's sermons is preserved in the city archives: "Behold, for a thousand years the pictures of your forefathers holding rosaries in their hands have stood in this church". In 1706 the first settlement of the Institute of Mary (q. v.) was made at Sankt Polten, whence they had been called from Munich by the vice-president of the Government of Lower Austria, Jakob Freiherr von Kriechbaum. At the same time Carmelite nuns settled there. They were later sup- pressed by the Emperor Joseph II, and the same fate befell the monastery of Augustinian canons. The fifty-ninth and last provost was Ildefons Schmidt- bauer. The emperor took the monastery for the epis- copal residence and the monastery church for the ca- thedral. As the Diocese of Wiener-Neustadt reached almost to the capital, Vienna, Joseph II united its territory with the Archdiocese of Vienna, and transferred its bishop to Sankt Polten. A new diocese was established at Linz and both bishops were made suffragans of the Archbishop of Vienna.
Since 1785 Sankt Polten has had thirteen bishops,
