The Diocese of Hermosillo was originally created as the Diocese of Sonora on May 7, 1779. On September 1, 1959 the name was changed to Diocese of Hermosillo; it was elevated to Archdiocese on July 13, 1963.
The Gospel was first preached in the territory by the celebrated Father Niza, who accompanied the daring expeditions of the first explorers and conquerors of Mexico. The Spaniards settled at different places in this section; they evangelized the numerous tribes who lived in that region in the beginning of the seventeenth century, after having established the new See of Durango, to which all these lands were given. The Jesuits, who were assigned the task of converting to Christianity the people of these lands, founded the famous missions of Río Yaqui, Río Mayo, and Upper and Lower Pimeria. Notable among these priests was the celebrated Father Kino. When the Jesuits were expelled from all the Spanish colonies (1767) they had the following residences: Mission of the Upper and Lower Pimeria (Guazaves, Aconche, Mátape, Oposura, Movas, S. Ignacio, Arizpe, Aribechi, Batuco, Onavas, Cucurupe, Cumuripa, Saguaripa, Sta Maria Soanca, Tubutama, Odope, Saric, Tecoripa, Ures, Caborca, Babispe, Baca de Guachi, Cuquiarachi, Onapa, Banamichi); S. Javier del Bac, Santa Maria Basoraca, and Guebabi, which were then in the territory now belonging to the United States; Mission del Rio Yaqui (Huiribis [es], Belem, Rahum, Torim, Bacum); Mission del Rio Mayo (Santa Cruz, Caamoa, Nabojoa, Conicari, Batacosa).
On 7 May 1779, Pius VI established the Diocese of Sonora to which belonged at that time the present states of Sinaloa and Sonora and the two Californias (Upper and Lower). It was suffragan of the then immense Archdiocese of Mexico. This territory was divided in 1840 when the See of San Francisco de California was founded. In 1863 it ceased to be a suffragan of Mexico and became suffragan of the new metropolitan see established at Guadalajara. In 1873 it was separated from Lower California, which became a vicariate Apostolic, and in 1883, when the See of Sinaloa was created, the See of Sonora was reduced to its present limits. In 1891 Leo XIII, by the Bull Illud in Primis, separated this See from the ecclesiastical Province of Guadalajara and made it a suffragan of the new Archdiocese of Durango. The bishop's residence was first situated in the city of Arizpe, but owing to the uprising of the Indians it was removed to Álamos and later to Culiacán, the present capital of the State of Sinaloa. When the new See of Sinaloa was created the Bishop of Sonora made his residence at Hermosillo. And in June 1959 more territory was lost from the Archdiocese of Hermosillo with the creation of the Diocese of Ciudad Obregón. Further, on Thursday, 19 March 2015, Pope Francis took territory from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hermosillo to erect the new suffragan diocese of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nogales, naming Auxiliary BishopJosé Leopoldo González González of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Guadalajara, in Guadalajara, Mexico, as the first Bishop.[1][2]
Bishops
Bishops of Diocese of Sonora and of Diocese/Archdiocese of Hermosillo
