FLORIANÓPOLIS, ARCHDIOCESE OF. - In the State of Santa Catarina in Brazil and metropolitan see of the ecclesiastical province whose boundaries are the same as those of the State. Its suffragan sees are the dioceses of Lages and Joinville.
The archdiocese extends over 20,855 sq. km. with a population of 510,000, of whom 450,000 are Catholics. There are 55 parishes, 481 secular priests and 68 regulars. There are also houses of Franciscans, Jesuits, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Servites, 7 female religious congregations, 11 major seminaries in São Leopoldo in Rio Grande do Sul, and a minor seminary in the city of Azambuja (1948). Florianópolis is situated at 27° 35' 48" S. lat., 48° 54' 00" W. long. (Greenwich). It has about 50,000 inhabitants.
In 1684 the bandeirantes, explorers from São Paulo, established a settlement at Laguna. The Portuguese, in turn, to secure their rear as they advanced southward, occupied the Island of Santa Catarina, populating the colony with settlers from the Azores (1738). The village took the name of Desterro and is the present-day Florianópolis.