It has a territory of 6,999 sq. km., with a population of 884,600 inhabitants, of whom 577,280 are Catholic; 350 churches, 44 parishes, 59 diocesan priests and 57 religious priests (1948). There is a minor seminary. Patroness: the Immaculate Conception.
The city of C., in the centre of a fertile plateau with a temperate climate, is an important road junction, commercial, industrial and agricultural centre, with many cultural institutions; it is the third city of the State, with 140,000 inhabitants. It lies 860 metres above sea level. C. arose under the name of São Carlos from a village founded in 1774, a name it retained until its elevation to city status in 1842. In the final years of the imperial era, it was the centre of republican propaganda and subsequently exercised considerable political influence within the state.
The bull *Dioecesium nimiam amplitudinem* of 7 June 1908, which created the ecclesiastical province of São Paulo, constituted it as one of the five new dioceses into which the ancient territory of the vast diocese was divided. Its first bishop was Msgr. João Correia Nery (1908–20), to whom the city erected a monument.
Noteworthy is the cathedral of C. for its woodwork. There are other fine churches in the diocese, though modern. C. is the birthplace of Brazil’s greatest composer, Antônio Carlos Gomes (d. 1896).