CARATINGA, Diocese of. - In the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil, it extends across the so-called zona da mata, the eastern part of the state, very rich in mountains and forests and highly suited to agriculture and cattle raising. It belongs to the ecclesiastical province of Mariana.

It has an area of about 21,000 sq. km.; a population of 620,000 inhabitants, of whom 600,000 are Catholics; 302 churches, 32 parishes, 29 diocesan priests and 17 regulars (1948). Its titular is St. John the Baptist. C. lies 530 meters above sea level; it has been a city since 1882 and has 117,000 inhabitants in its municipality.

The history of the diocese is one with that of the archdiocese of Mariana, from which it was separated by the bull Pastorale Romani Pontificis officium of Dec. 15, 1915 of Benedict XV. Msgr. Mamede da Silva Leite, its first bishop-elect, resigned before taking over its governance. Manuel Nogueira Duarte, the second bishop, likewise resigned before being consecrated. The diocese therefore did not begin to be governed regularly until the third bishop, Carloto Fernandes da Silva Távora (1920-34).

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: AAS, 8 (1916), p. 8; R. Trindade, Arquidiocese de Mariana, III, S. Paulo 1929, p. 1183; Anuario estatistico do Brasil, 1937, Rio de Janeiro 1937; J. B. Lehmann, O Brasil católico, Juiz de Fora 1938, p. 105.

Maurilio Cesar de Lima

@incollection{ec3_caratinga_diocesi_di, author = {Cesar, de Lima Maurilio}, title = {Caratinga, diocesi di}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {III}, pages = {750}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/caratinga-diocesi-di} }

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Caratinga, Diocese of

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