First Cathedral of America

Oldest cathedral in America consecrated to Santa María de la Encarnación. The oldest of the surviving dioceses of America, the Diocese of Santo Domingo was created on August 8, 1511 by the Bull "Romanus Pontifex" of August 8, 1511 of Pope Julius II.
The Archdiocese of Santo Domingo is considered the first episcopal see in America. Among all the dioceses of the north and south of the American continent, only the Archbishop of Santo Domingo corresponds to the title of Primate of America (or Primate of the Indies) according to the Bull of Pius VII Divinis praeceptis of November 28, 1816, and ratified by the Corcordat between the Holy See and the Dominican Republic of June 16, 1954. The temple that heads it is the Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica Santa María de La Encarnación, which has the title, rights and privileges of Minor Basilica, granted by Benedict XV in his Brief Inter Americae of June 14, 1920.

Marlyn Matos