BOGOTÁ, ARCIDIOCESI di. — In the Republic of Colombia, department of Cundinamarca. Primatial see and capital of the State, B. is situated at 2,640 m. on the edge of a vast plateau surrounded by high mountains. It has approximately 325,000 inhabitants. An episcopal see in 1562, it was then erected into a metropolitan see by Pius IV on 24 March 1564, under the name of Santa Fé de B. Until the beginning of the present century, the ecclesiastical province of B. comprised the entire territory of the present republic, together with Panama. Now, following the erection of other metropolitan sees, it comprises the central-northeastern part of the republic, with four suffragan sees: Ibagué, Nueva Pamplona, Socorro, and Tunja. The archdiocese covers an area of 22,350 sq. km. and has 1,340,000 inhabitants, almost all Catholics, divided among 147 parishes. The number of secular priests is 192, and of religious priests, 358. It has one major seminary and two minor seminaries.
The progress of studies advanced in step with that of ecclesiastical organization. The Dominicans were the first: in their convent of the Rosario, erected in 1550, they established the University of S. Tommaso with all the canonical faculties; it received solemn confirmation from Gregory XIII
in 1580. The Jesuits, for their part, having settled in the country, founded the college of S. Bartolomé in 1604, to which the Conciliar seminary, founded at that time, was also attached in 1605; in 1621 Gregory XV established there the Universidad Javeriana, which lasted until 1767. Owing to political disturbances and the consequent suppressions, the two institutions underwent various vicissitudes; until, having resumed the college of S. Bartolomé in 1928, the Jesuits restored the Universidad Javeriana there in 1931, and it was recognized by the government in 1933; in 1937 it was established as a Catholic and pontifical university. Since 1933 it has published the Revista Javeriana.
Among the religious monuments, special mention should be made of the Cathedral, one of the finest churches in Latin America; and the churches of S. Francesco, S. Ignazio, S. Agostino, La Tercera, El Sagrario, La Candelaria, and S. Domenico.