ANGRA, DIOCESE OF. - The chief city of the Azores, with a population of about 12,000, Angra is the seat of a diocese suffragan to Lisbon, erected by Clement VII in 1533 under the title of St Michael and confirmed by Paul III the following year (3 Nov.), though under the name of St Saviour of Angra. It was suffragan to Funchal until 1550. The population, mostly Catholic, is estimated at 275,000. There are 132 parishes and 275 diocesan priests.
BIBL.: Bullarum collectio quibn., Lusitaniae Regibus... in Patronatus... conceditur, Lisbon 1707, p. 98; F. de Almeida, História da Igreja em Portugal, II, II, Coimbra 1912, pp. 43-46; III, II, II, 1915, pp. 957-65; IV, II, II, 1922, pp. 2-3; Eubel, III, p. 110; IV, p. 8. Giovanni Messner