BELÉM DO GRÃO PARÁ, Archdiocese of. - In Brazil, State of Pará. A city founded in 1616 on the estuary of the Pará; today it has a population of 500,000 inhabitants and is the capital of the State of Pará (1,362,066 sq. km.). The diocese of B. was erected on 4 March 1719 by Pope Clement XI with the bull *Copiosus in misericordia*, from territories of the diocese of São Luís do Maranhão, as a suffragan of Lisbon until 1827, then of Salvador da Bahia. It became an archdiocese on 10 May 1906. From the first half of the 17th century it was cultivated by Franciscan, Jesuit, Carmelite, and Mercedarian missionaries. With the expulsion of the Jesuits and the removal of the other missionaries, the missions declined, and did not flourish again until recent times, through the work of Msgr. Antônio de Macedo Costa.
From 1893 to 1934 the following were detached from B.: the dioceses of Amazonas and the prelatures *nullius* of Santarém, Nossa Senhora da Conceição do Araguaia, Marajó, Gurupy (now Guamá), Xingú (v.). It has 44 parishes, 22 diocesan priests, 10 male and 10 female religious congregations, and two seminaries. The clergy is still insufficient. The cathedral was begun in 1739 and restored by Msgr. Macedo Costa. The episcopal residence occupies the former Jesuit college. Besides the cathedral, noteworthy is the basilica of Nazaré, built at the initiative of the Barnabite L. Zoia.