During
Roman times
Seville was the capital of the Province of
Baetica, and the origin of the diocese goes back to
apostolic times, or at least to the 1st century.
Saint Gerontius, Bishop of
Italica, preached in
Baetica, and without doubt must have left a pastor of its own to
Seville. It is certain that in 303, when Saints
Justa and Rufina were
martyred for refusing to adore a pagan
idol, there was a Bishop of Seville named
Sabinus, who assisted at the
Council of Illiberis in 287.
Zeno (472–486) was appointed
vicar apostolic by
Pope Simplicius, and
Pope Hormisdas gave the same charge to Bishop
Sallustius in the provinces of Baetica and
Lusitania. However, the see was rendered illustrious above all by the holy brothers Saints
Leander and
Isidore. The former of these contributed to the conversion of
Saint Hermengild and
Recared, and presided at the
Third Council of Toledo in 589. While the latter presided at the
Fourth Council of Toledo and was the teacher of
medieval Spain. The king's son
Philip was appointed
Archbishop of Seville, while he was given as
coadjutor the
Dominican Raimundo de Losada,
Bishop of Segovia, who became archbishop five years later, on the abdication of the
Infante. In addition to the cathedral chapter, another community of clerics was formed to sing the Divine Office in the Chapel Royal of Our Lady of the Kings (Nuestra Senora de los Reyes) about 1252. Most of the other mosques of the city were converted into churches, but Santa María la Blanca, Santa Cruz, and San Bartolome were left to the Jews for
synagogues. The cathedral originated in the great
mosque which was the work of the
emirs who built the
Aljama mosque, rebuilt in 1171 by the
Almohad emir,
Yusuf-ben Yacub. The famous tower called the
Giralda is due to
Almanzor. In order to secure the liturgical orientation, when the mosque was converted into a cathedral its width was made the length of the new church; and it was divided into two parts, the lesser part, on the cast, being separated from the rest by a
balustrade and grating, to form the chapel royal. ==List of bishops and archbishops of Seville==