| Jurisdiction: | Diocese |
| Segorbe-Castellón | |
| Latin: | Dioecesis Segobricensis-Castillionensis |
| Local: | Diócesis de Segorbe-Castellón (es) Diòcesi de Sogorb-Castelló (val) |
| Country: |  Spain |
| Province: | Valencia |
| Metropolitan: | Valencia |
| Coordinates: | 39.8523°N -0.4883°W |
| Denomination: | Catholic |
| Sui Iuris Church: | Latin Church |
| Rite: | Roman Rite |
| Cathedral: | Segorbe Cathedral |
| Cocathedral: | Castelló Cathedral |
| Bishop: | Casimiro López Llorente |
| Metro Archbishop: | Antonio Cañizares Llovera |
The Diocese of Segorbe-Castellón (Latin: Dioecesis Segobricensis-Castillionensis; Catalan; Valencian: Diòcesi de Sogorb-Castelló) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church located in north-eastern Spain, in the province of Castellón, part of the autonomous community of Valencia. The diocese forms part of the ecclesiastical province of Valencia, and is thus suffragan to the Archdiocese of Valencia.
No name of any Bishop of Segorbe is known earlier than Proculus, who signed in the Third Council of Toledo (589). He was followed by a succession of bishop until Anterius, who attended the fifteenth (688) and the sixteenth (693). After this, there is no information of its bishops until the Arab invasion, when its church was converted into a mosque.
In 1172 Pedro Ruiz de Azagra, second son of the Lord of Estella, held the city of Albarracín, and succeeded in establishing there a bishop. Pedro's refusal to recognise Aragonese sovereignty extended to his bishop, Martin, who refused to recognise the supremacy of the Bishop of Zaragoza, though ordered to do so by the pope.[1] Instead, Martin swore allegiance to the Metropolitan of Toledo. Four years later, Martin took instead the title of Bishop of Segorbe.[2] This choice of name follows the ideology of the Reconquest, according to which the bishops were simply restoring the old Christian entities only temporarily taken over by the Moors. In this way, the city of Albarracín became the seat of the bishops of Segorbe.
When Segorbe was conquered by the king James I of Aragon in 1245, the cathedral seat was relocated from Albarracín to Segorbe. There arose serious territorial disputes with the Archdiocese of Valencia which claimed rights over several churches in Segorbe. The Bishop of Valencia, Arnau of Peralta, entered the church of Segorbe by force and expelled the prelate. The controversy being referred to Rome, Rome agreed with the Bishop of Segorbe-Albarracín. In 1318 Pope John XXII raised the see of Zaragoza to an Archdiocese, with the diocese of Segorbe-Albarracín as a suffragan.[2]
The Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady of Segorbe, once a mosque, was reconsecrated in 1534,[3] and in 1795 the nave was lengthened, and new altars added, in the episcopate of Lorenzo Gómez de Haedo.Amadó,[4]
In 1577, Pope Gregory XIII, at the urging of Philip II of Spain, separated Albarracín and Segorbe. The terms of the papal bull specified that Segorbe belonged to the Kingdom of Valencia and Albarracín to that of Aragón. The order was well received in Albarracín, but not in Segorbe. The new bishopric of Albarracín was proclaimed a suffragan of Zaragoza, while that of Segorbe was of Valencia.[2]
In 1960 the see became the Diocese of Segorbe-Castellón. Following the De mutatione finium Dioecesium Valentinae-Segorbicensis-Dertotensis decree, of 31 May 1960, the parishes belonging to the Province of València were dismembered and aggregated to the Archdiocese of Valencia. On the other hand, the Nules, Vila-real, Castelló de la Plana, Lucena and Albocàsser parishes that had belonged to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tortosa were aggregated to the Diocese of Segorbe-Castellón along with the parish of Betxí.
The Cathedral was elevated to the rank of minor basilica in 1985.[5] Its time-stained tower and its cloister are built on a trapezoidal ground plan. It is connected by a bridge with the old episcopal palace. The Cathedral Museum is located in the upper cloister and its adjacent rooms.[6]
Episcopal see suppressed (unknown–1173)
Bishops of Segorbe with seat in Albarracín. All the names are given in Spanish:
All the names are given in Spanish: