On 15 April 1577, the Diocese of Trujillo was erected by the bullIllius fulciti praesidio ofPope Gregory XIII, taking its territory from the Archdiocese of Lima, of which it was originally a suffragan.[3] In the communication dated 23 August 1761 byJosé Antonio Manso de Velasco — theViceroy of Peru — to his successor, he indicated that the Diocese of Trujillo had 79,114 people in the 7 provinces that then comprised it: Trujillo, Saña, Piura, Caxamarquilla (or Pataz), Caxamarca, Luya and Chillaos, Chachapoyas.[4] The bishopric also included thegovernorate ofJaén de Bracamoros, belonging to theReal Audiencia of Quito in theViceroyalty of New Granada.
On 28 May 1803, the Diocese of Trujillo ceded a portion of its territory for the erection of the Diocese of Maynas (theDiocese of Chachapoyas today).
On 5 April 1908 and 29 February 1940, the Diocese of Trujillo ceded other portions of territory for the erection of theDiocese of Cajamarca and the Diocese of Piura (theArchdiocese of Piura today), respectively.[5][6]
On 17 December 1956 and 4 December 1961, the Archdiocese of Trujillo ceded further portions of territory for the purpose of establishing theDiocese of Chiclayo and the Territorial Prelature of Huamachuco, respectively.
^(in Latin)BulaIllius fulciti praesidio, in Francisco Javier Hernáez,Colección de bulas, breves y otros documentos relativos a la iglesia de América y Filipinas, vol. II, Bruselas, 1879, pp. 187-189.
^Volume 4 of Memoirs of the Viceroys Who Have Governed Peru: During the time of the Spanish colony, J. A. Manso de Velasco, Count of Superunda [1761]; M. Amat y Yunient [1773]. Page 14. Author: Manuel Atanasio Fuentes. Contributors: Ministry of Finance of Peru, Cerdan de Landa Simon Pontero, Ambrosio. Editor: F. Bailly, 1859
^(in Latin)DecretoApostolicam sedem, inPii X pontificis maximi acta, vol. V, Roma, 1914, pp. 208-215.
