Diego, Francisco Garcia, Dd

Diego, Francisco Garcia, D.D.

a Roman Catholic prelate, who had for some time directed the missionaries as prefect, was on April 27, 1840, appointed first bishop of California, residing at Santa Barbara, where he at once prepared to erect a Franciscan monastery and a theological seminary, as well as a cathedral and residence; but the income of the "Pious Fund" of California-created at the time of the Jcsuit missions there (1642 sq.) by charitable benefactors was withheld, as the Mexican government had appropriated the property in which it was invested. In 1844, however, he obtained a grant of thirty-five thousand acres of land, by means of which he established a college at Santa Iniez mission. Diego died at Santa Barbara, April 30, 1846. See De Courcy and Shea, Hist. of the Cath. Church in the United States, page 693.