CAXIAS DEL MARAGNANO, DIOCESI di. - In the State of Maranhão (Brazil), suffragan to S. Luigi del Maragnano, it extends over the eastern region of the State, hot but very fertile in cotton, rice, rubber, the carnaudo palm, and also livestock.
It has approximately 92,538 sq. km., 350,000 inhabitants, 17 parishes, and 11 diocesan priests and Lazarist religious (1948). The patroness of the Cathedral is Our Lady of Health; of the diocese, the Immaculate Conception and S. Giuseppe. C. has been a city since 1836 and has 65,000 inhabitants. The city, formerly called Aldeias Altas, was plundered during the bloody insurrection of the balaios (1838-41). Its present importance is due to its central position between the port of S. Luiz and the interior of the States of Maranhão and Piauí.
It was therefore erected as the episcopal see of the diocese, its territory having been detached from the archdiocese of S. Luigi on 22 July 1939.