CORDOBA, ARCIDIOCESI di. - City and archdiocese in the Argentine Republic on the Rio Primero. In 1700 the bishopric of Tucumán was transferred to C. The see remained vacant from 1819 to 1830 and from 1841 to 1858; it was suffragan to Buenos Aires.
Pope Pio XI raised it to an archdiocese on 20 Apr. 1934, with La Rioja and Rio Cuarto as suffragans.
It extends over 114,460 sq. km., including the States of C. and La Rioja. It has a population of 1,112,000 inhabitants, 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 Maria S.ma Assunta and to St. Pietro.
Other notable churches in C. are those of S. Domenico, which contains the shrine of N. Signora del Rosario, known as the Madonna del Miracolo; of N. Signora della Mercede, S. Teresa di Gesù, S. Caterina da Siena, S. Francesco, and S. Rocco. The city of C. was founded on 6 July 1573 by Luis Jeronimo de Cabrera.
In 1613 the Jesuits established in C. the S. Francesco Saverio college, which Pope Gregorio XV raised to the major University of S. Carlo. The bishop of Tucumán, Fernando de Trejo y Sanabria, bequeathed all his possessions to the University. A church and a printing press were established adjacent to the college. Today the University is national.
The population is chiefly devoted to agriculture and stock-raising. Italians are very numerous there.