Ferrol Co-Cathedral

Anyone strolling through Ferrol will find the Co-Cathedral of St Julian to be one of the places that means most to the city. The church is dedicated to St Julian, Ferrol's patron saint, so it is not simply a place of Catholic worship: it is also where the city honours its protector saint and where much of its religious identity beats.

Its name hides a curious detail worth knowing before you step through the door. St Julian's is not a cathedral but a co-cathedral, and the reason lies in how the Church is organised in this part of Galicia. Ferrol belongs to the same diocese as Mondoñedo, in the province of Lugo, which already had a cathedral. As a diocese cannot have two cathedrals, the solution was to grant Ferrol's church the status of co-cathedral, a rank that places it on an equal symbolic footing with its counterpart in Lugo province and recognises the city's importance within the diocese.

That recognition came on a specific date: 9 March 1959, through a papal bull issued by Pope John XXIII. Ever since, the church of Ferrol's patron saint has held this dignity, which makes it one of the principal seats of the diocese and a point of reference for the faithful throughout the surrounding area.

For travellers, then, a visit holds a twofold appeal. On the one hand, it offers a closer look at the saint at the heart of the city's devotions; on the other, it helps explain how church life is structured in Galicia, with two major churches sharing a single diocese some distance apart. It is a stop well worth including on any tour of Ferrol, and one that invites you to round off your trip with a visit to Mondoñedo.