CÓRDOBA, ARCHDIOCESE OF. - 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 a suffragan of Buenos Aires.
Pope Pius XI erected it into an archdiocese on 20 April 1934, with La Rioja and Rio Cuarto as suffragans.
It extends over 114,460 sq. km., comprising the states of C. and of 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 regulars; a seminary (1948). The Cathedral is dedicated to Mary Most Holy Assumed and to St. Peter.
Other notable churches in C. are those of St. Dominic, which contains the sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary, called the Madonna of the Miracle; of Our Lady of Mercy, of St. Teresa of Jesus, of St. Catherine of Siena, of St. Francis, of St. Roch. The city of C. was founded on 6 July 1573 by Luis Jeronimo de Cabrera.
In 1613 the Jesuits established in C. the college of St. Francis Xavier, which Pope Gregory XV erected into the greater University of St. Charles. The bishop of Tucumán Fernando de Trejo y Sanabria left all his possessions to the University. Adjoining the college a church and a printing house were erected. Today the University is national.
The population is devoted especially to agriculture and cattle raising. Italians are very numerous there.
Bibliography
Enrico Josi