Veglia, Diocese of (VEGIENSIS ET ARBENSIS), in Austria, suffragan of Gorz-Gradisca. Parallel to the Dinaric Alps are a number of rocky islands, separated from the mainland by a deep, though narrow, strait. The largest of them is Veglia, which in the year 1000 had a bishop, Vitalis, who was present at a synod in Spoleto. Eugene III made it a suffragan of Zara, but since 1828 it has been under Gorz. Bartholomaus Bozarich was present at the assembly of bishops in 1849 and his successor was a member of the Vatican Council. Still more ancient is the See of Ossero (Lusin, Absor, Auxerensis), to whose bishop Pope John VIII wrote in 870. The fifty-fifth bishop, Raccamarich, was transferred to Cattaro in 1818, and Ossero and Veglia were united. The See of Arbe (Scardona) is even more ancient. Its first known bishop attended a council at Salona in 530. The fifty-eighth bishop, Galzigna (d. in 1823), was also the last, as his diocese was merged in that of Veglia. Although Veglia is a triple see, it contains only 809,000 Catholics, 95 secular priests, 64 regulars, and 68 nuns.
COLESTIN WOLFSGRUBER