Canonical chapter of Santa Maria de Guissona
Sancte Marie Guissonensis / Gissone
(Guissona, Segarra)
A tradition holds that the church of Santa Maria de Guissona was founded in the year 410 from the diocese of Urgell, thanks to the intervention and presence of Saint Paulinus of Nola. Later, in the mid-6th century, the first known bishop of Urgell, Saint Just, is said to have established a canonical community there following the Rule of Saint Augustine.
Beyond this tradition, there is no documentary evidence concerning Guissona until around the year 1024, when the territory was recovered from the Saracens by Count Ermengol II of Urgell. Although a church dedicated to Santa Maria and a clerical presence are attested, no canonical community is clearly documented until 1060. From the second half of the 11th century, donations in its favour are recorded. In 1098, the bishops Ot of Urgell, Folc of Barcelona and Ponç of Roda consecrated a new church, an event that also included the establishment of an endowment.
Initially, this canonry -dependent on the bishopric of Urgell- seems to have followed the Aachen model, and possibly later became an Augustinian community. By 1266, the canonical priory had already been secularised, becoming a collegiate church. In the 18th century, a new church was built, as the previous building had suffered collapses and its structure was in a very poor state.
- BACH I RIU, Antoni (1997). Santa Maria de Guissona. Catalunya romànica. Vol. XXIV: Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana
- CAMPS, Eduard; SANTAEULÀRIA, Joan (1982). Guissona. Barcelona: Joan Santaeulària
- GARGANTÉ, Maria (2006). Arquitectura religiosa del segle XVIII a la Segarra i l'Urgell. Condicionants, artífex i pràctica constructiva. Barcelona: Fundació Noguera
- MARQUÈS, Benigne (2000). La consagració de l’església de Santa Maria de Guissona, l’any 1098, i la seva canònica. La transformació de la Frontera al Segle XI. Universitat de Lleida
- MARQUÈS, Benigne (2021). Els pergamins de Santa Maria de Guissona. Urgellia, núm. 20. Seu d’Urgell: Societat Cultural Urgel·litana
- SANGÉS, Domènec (2005). Els documents del segle XII (1176-1200), dels fons de Guissona, conservats d l’Arxiu Diocesà d’Urgell. Urgellia, núm. 15. Seu d’Urgell: Societat Cultural Urgel·litana
The collegiate church of Santa Maria is located in the centre of Guissona, in the Plaça Major