CAMPINAS, DIOCESI di. - In the State of S. Paulo (Brazil), suffragan of the archdiocese of S. Paulo.
It has an area of 6,999 sq. km., with a population of 88,460 inhabitants, of whom 577,280 are Catholics; 350 churches, 44 parishes, 59 diocesan and 57 regular 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 a most important road junction, a 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. Toward the end of the imperial era, it was the centre of republican propaganda and subsequently exercised considerable political influence in the interior of the state.
The bull Dioecesium nimiam amplitudinem of 7 June 1908, which created the ecclesiastical province of S. Paulo, established it as one of the five new dioceses into which the former territory of the vast diocese was divided. Its first bishop was Mons. João Correia Nery (1908–20), to whom the city erected a monument.
The cathedral of C. is notable for its woodwork. There are other fine, though modern, churches in the diocese. C. is the birthplace of the greatest Brazilian composer, Antonio Carlos Gomes (d. 1896).