Roman Catholic Diocese of San Nicolás de los Arroyos

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Nicolás de los Arroyos is based in the city of San Nicolás de los Arroyos, which is usually shortened to San Nicolás, and is a suffragan of the archdiocese of Rosario, Argentina.

Diocese of San Nicolás de los Arroyos Dioecesis Sancti Nicolai de los Arroyos Diócesis de San Nicolás de los Arroyos
Cathedral of St. Nicholas of Bari
Location
Country	Argentina
Ecclesiastical province	Rosario
Metropolitan	Rosario
Statistics
Area	14,500 km2 (5,600 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2004) 427,000 390,000 (91.3%)
Parishes	51
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	3 March 1947 (77 years ago)
Cathedral	Cathedral of St Nicholas of Myra in San Nicolás de los Arroyos
Patron saint	Saint Nicholas
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Hugo Norberto Santiago
Metropolitan Archbishop	Eduardo Eliseo Martín
Website
Website of the Diocese

History

Statue of Our Lady of the Rosary of San Nicolás original furnishings of St. Nicholas of Bari Cathedral, now enshrined in a newly-erected Sanctuary of the same name in San Nicolás de los Arroyos

On 3 March 1947, Pope Pius XII established the Diocese of San Nicolás de los Arroyos from territory taken from the Diocese of La Plata and the Diocese of Mercedes. It lost territory to the Diocese of San Isidro when it was created in 1957 and the Diocese of Zárate-Campana in 1976.

Apparations approved

The diocesan seat, the Cathedral of St Nicholas of Myra, was home to a neglected statue of Our Lady of the Rosary that had been blessed by Pope Leo XIII. The statue was rediscovered after an image of Our Lady appeared in a vision to a local lay woman mother-of-two Gladys Motta, leading to a renewed devotion under the title Our Lady of the Rosary of San Nicolás and the erection of a new Sanctuary with hostel for pilgrims and a center for promoting popular piety. In a decree signed on May 22, 2016 and made public a few days later, Héctor Cardelli, Bishop of the Diocese of San Nicolás, declared that the apparitions that occurred over a number of years beginning in the 1980s were supernatural in origin. The devotion is thus approved "worthy of belief" at the Diocesan level within the Catholic Church.

Ordinaries

• Silvino Martínez (1954–1959), appointed Bishop of Rosario
• Francisco Juan Vénnera (1959–1966)
• Carlos Horacio Ponce de Léon (1966–1977)
• Fortunato Antonio Rossi (1977–1983), appointed Archbishop of Corrientes
• Domingo Salvador Castagna (1984–1994), appointed Archbishop of Corrientes
• Mario Luis Bautista Maulión (1995–2003), appointed Archbishop of Paraná
• Héctor Sabatino Cardelli (2004–2016)
• Hugo Norberto Santiago (2016–