Jericó, Antioquia


Jericó is a town, municipality and Catholic bishopric in the Colombian department of Antioquia. It is part of the subregion of Southwestern Antioquia. The distance reference from Medellín city, the capital of the department, is 104 km.

History

The town was founded on September 28, 1850, by pioneer Santiago Santamaría. It was established as municipality on 1851. During a territorial rearrangement on the country on 1908, Jericó became the capital of the homonymous department until 1911.

Religion

Its Catedral de Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, dedicated to Our Lady of Mercy, is the episcopal cathedral see of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jericó. Due to some damages, the first church had to be replaced by the present cathedral, since 1949. The town is the birthplace of Laura of Saint Catherine of Siena, canonized as saint by Pope Francis on 2013.

Notable people from Jericó