Catholic Diocese of San Jose de Antique on the island of Panay. As of the year 2004, out of a population of 2,232,931, 92.00% or 2,054,296 are Catholic, making Jaro the eighth-largest diocese in the Philippines. In 2015, the archdiocese has 92 parishes, 256 priests (173 diocesan, 83 religious), 644 lay religious (121 brothers, 523 sisters), 65 seminarians. In the same year, the Catholic population numbers 2,641,965 Catholics or 83.1% of 3,177,462 total residents of its entire territory covering 5,304 km². The province is predominantly rural with 72.7 percent of the total population residing in rural areas and only 27.3 percent in urban area. Agriculture, forestry and fishing are the leading major industries. Its titular patron saint is Elizabeth of Hungary, whose feast is celebrated on November 17. History The precursor of the Archdiocese of Jaro dates back when it was founded in 1587 as a Roman Catholic parish by the Spanish colonists. The diocese of Jaro whose patron saint is Elizabeth of Hungary was officially and formally established by virtue of the Papal bull "Qui Ab Initio" of Pope Pius IX. The bull was issued in Rome on May 27, 1865. On October 10, 1867 the decree took effect and Jaro was made an Episcopal See, according to the document signed by D. Gregorio Meliton Martinez, then archbishop of Manila and executor-delegate of the decree. It is worth noting that this "decretum executorium" was also signed by Jose Burgos, Pro-Secretary, a secular priest who became one of the outstanding martyr-heroes of the country. Jaro was separated from the now Archdiocese of Cebu and became a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Manila. Its territories at creation comprised the islands of Panay, (now composed of the provinces of Iloilo, Capiz, Antique and Aklan), Guimaras, Negros (now the twin provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental), Romblon and Palawan, as well as the provinces of Cotabato, Zamboanga, Davao and Sulu of Mindanao. Mariano Cuartero became its first bishop on April 25, 1868. In the 20th century the diocese was further divided to form new ecclesiastical jurisdictions. Zamboanga was made a separate diocese in 1910, while Palawan was made an apostolic prelature in the same year; then Bacolod in 1933, Capiz in 1951 and finally the Prelature of San Jose, Antique in 1962 as suffragans. Concurrently with the elevation of Jaro to an archdiocese, the first Filipino bishop, Jose Maria Cuenco, was