LIMA, Archdiocese of. - Archdiocese and capital city of Peru in South America.
It has an area of 34,168 sq km with 1,031,000 inhabitants, of whom 842,000 are Catholics. It has 94 parishes with 131 diocesan priests and 331 regular clergy, a seminary, 53 male religious communities and 88 female ones (Annuario Pontificio, 1951, p. 246).
The diocese was created by Pope Paul III with a bull of 14 May 1541; its first bishop was Girolamo Loaza, a Dominican, who was succeeded by St. Toribio Mogrovejo; on 12 February 1546 it was elevated to metropolitan rank. Its suffragan dioceses are those of Huanuco, Huaraz, Huancavelica, Huancayo and Ica. A great impetus for education and instruction was given by the arrival in L. of the Jesuits, who founded schools and colleges there. The first book printed in America was a catechism printed by the Jesuits in 1577 at Juli (Lake Titicaca).
The Cathedral, dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, was begun by the founder of L. himself, Francisco Pizarro, and consecrated on 1 October 1626. It was damaged by the earthquake of 1746, and in the restoration two bell towers were added (1758). It has five naves, the high altar has a painting by Murillo; F. Pizarro is buried there. The monumental church of St. Dominic was built at the order of F. Pizarro, and in it is preserved a relic of the Holy Cross, sent by Paul III in 1540. Other churches to be remembered are those of St. Francis, of La Merced, of St. Augustine, of Sts. Peter and Paul, formerly of the Jesuits; the beautiful church in honor of the holy bishop Toribio was erected by the Jesuits. The sanctuary of St. Rose of Lima, patroness of Peru, was built on the site of the house in which the Saint was born in 1586.
Bibliography2 works
Enrico Josi
CENTERS OF HIGHER STUDIES IN LIMA
1. The Theological Faculty
After the Spaniards completed the conquest of Peru, the Dominicans opened in L. the convent of Our Lady of the Rosary, which, by royal decree of May 12, 1551, received the same academic rights and privileges as Salamanca. Courses began in 1555, giving rise to the University of St. Mark, "the first university, as the degree diplomas express it, of all America," and today the largest state university of the Republic. Pius V ratified its erection and declared it pontifical with the bull Exponi Nobis of July 25, 1571. Particular importance was given, for missionary purposes, to the chair of the indigenous language, called Quechua. The Faculty of Theology remained in the Dominican convent until 1760, when it was transferred to the diocesan Seminary of St. Toribio, where it still resides, and until until 1935 it formed an integral part of the state University (Universidad Mayor de S. Marcos) as the first of its Faculties. With the university reform of June 28 and July 13, 1935, the Faculty of Theology was declared (art. 6) a "higher institution" for ecclesiastical studies, independent of the University of St. Mark but recognized and in part financed by the State. Its statutes, conforming to the apostolic constitution Deus scientiarum Dominus, were approved by decree of the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries on June 29, 1937. On May 1, 1951, Pope Pius XII addressed to the University of St. Mark the apostolic letter Limana Universitas, on the occasion of the fourth centenary of its foundation.
2. The Catholic University
Brought into being through the efforts of Jorge Dintilhac (1878-1947), a religious of the Sacred Hearts (Picpus), the Universidad católica del Perú was inaugurated on April 15, 1917. The founder and rector, Fr. Dintilhac, obtained the presidential decree of legal recognition on March 24, 1917. Then by decree of the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and Universities of September 30, 1942 it received canonical erection. It has five Faculties: letters (1917), law and political sciences (1917), economic and commercial sciences (1932), engineering (1933), education (1947), and it includes various schools and institutes (School of Pedagogy, Normal School, Women's Institute of Higher Studies, School of Journalism, Academy of Art). Its official organ, since 1932, is the Revista de la Universidad católica del Peru.