Astorga (ASTURIGA AUGUSTA), Diocese of, suffragan of Valladolid in Spain, dates, it is said, from the third century. It was the principal church of the Asturias in 344, after a long eclipse was again an episcopal see in 747, and exhibits since 841 a regular succession of bishops. It was at different times a suffragan of Braga and of Santiago. It includes the whole province of Leon, and counts 300,115 Catholics, 990 parishes, and as many parish churches, 431 chapels, and 1,183 priests.
Barranpier, Ann. pont. cath. (Paris, 1905), 215; Werner, Orbis Terr, Cath, (Freiburg, 1890), 47; Gams, Series ep. (1873) 6-9; Florez, Espafia Sagrada (1762), XVI, 77, 519; Munoz, Bibl, Hist, Esp. (1858) 40.
Thomas J. SHAHAN,