CÓRDOBA, ARCHDIOCESE OF. – A city and archdiocese in the Argentine Republic on the Río Primero. In 1700 the see of Tucumán was transferred to C. The see remained vacant from 1819 to 1830 and from 1841 to 1858; it was a suffragan of Buenos Aires.
Pope Pius XI raised it to the status of an archdiocese on 20 April 1934, with La Rioja and Río Cuarto as suffragans.
It covers 114,460 sq. km., including the provinces of Córdoba and La Rioja. Its population is 1,112,000, of whom 985,000 are Catholics; it has 86 parishes with 403 churches, 156 diocesan priests and 195 regular clergy; one seminary (1948). The cathedral is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of the Assumption and to St Peter.
Other notable churches in Córdoba include those of St Dominic, which contains the shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary, known as the Madonna of the Miracle; of Our Lady of Mercy, of St Teresa of Jesus, of St Catherine of Siena, of St Francis, and of St Roch. The city of Córdoba was founded on 6 July 1573 by Luis Jerónimo de Cabrera.
In 1613 the Jesuits established in Córdoba the college of St Francis Xavier, which Pope Gregory XV raised to the rank of the major University of St Charles. The bishop of Tucumán, Ferrando de Trejo y Sanabria, bequeathed all his goods to the university. Adjoining the college there was built a church and a printing house. Today the university is a national institution.
The population is chiefly engaged in agriculture and stock-raising. Italians are very numerous there.