Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.
LIMA, ARCHDIOCESE OF. — Archdiocese and capital city of Peru in South America.
It has an area of 34,168 sq. km. with a population of 1,031,000, of whom 842,000 are Catholic. It comprises 94 parishes with 131 diocesan priests and 331 religious priests, one seminary, 53 male religious communities and 88 female (Annuario Pontificio, 1951, p. 246).
The diocese was erected by Pope Paul III with a bull dated 14 May 1541; its first bishop was the Dominican Girolamo Loayza, succeeded by St Toribio Mogrovejo; on 12 February 1546 it was raised to metropolitan status. Its suffragan sees are Huanuco, Huaraz, Huancavelica, Huancayo and Ica. The Jesuits gave great impetus to education and instruction, founding schools and colleges in Lima. The first book printed in America was a catechism issued by the Jesuits in 1577 at Juli (Lake Titicaca).
The cathedral, dedicated to St John the Evangelist, was begun by the founder of Lima, 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; it contains the tomb of F. Pizarro. The monumental church of St Dominic was built at Pizarro’s instigation and preserves a relic of the True Cross sent by Paul III in 1540. Other churches to be noted are those of St Francis, La Merced, St Augustine, SS Peter and Paul (formerly Jesuit), and the fine church in honour of the holy bishop Toribio erected by the Jesuits. The sanctuary of St Rose of Lima, patroness of Peru, stands on the site of the house where the saint was born in 1586.
BIBL.: Enc. Eur. Am., XXX, pp. 741-49; J. C. Grey, s.V. in Cath. Enc., IX, p. 255.
HIGHER EDUCATION CENTRES IN LIMA. —
256. The Faculty of Theology
After the Spanish conquest of Peru, the Dominicans opened in Lima the convent of Our Lady of the Rosary, which by royal decree of 12 May 1551 enjoyed the same academic rights and privileges as Salamanca. Courses began in 1555, giving rise to the University of San Marcos, described in its diplomas as the first university in all America, and today the principal state university of the Republic. Pius V ratified its foundation and declared it a pontifical university by the bull Exponi Nobis of 25 July 1571. Particular importance was given, for missionary purposes, to the chair of indigenous language, called Quechua. The Faculty of Theology remained in the Dominican convent until 1760, when it was transferred to the diocesan seminary of San Toribio, where it still resides, and until 1935 formed an integral part of the state university (Universidad Mayor de San Marcos) as its first faculty. By the university reform of 28 June and 13 July 1935 the Faculty of Theology was declared (art. 6) a higher institution for ecclesiastical studies, independent of the University of San Marcos but recognized and partly 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 29 June 1937. On 1 May 1951 Pope Pius XII addressed the apostolic letter Liniana Universitas to the University of San Marcos on the occasion of the fourth centenary of its foundation.
257. The Catholic University
Founded through the efforts of Jorge Dintilhac (1878-1947), a religious of the Sacred Hearts (Picpus), the Catholic University of Peru was inaugurated on 15 April 1917. The founder and rector, Fr Dintilhac, obtained the presidential decree of juridical recognition on 24 March 1917. By a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and Universities dated 30 September 1942 it received canonical erection. It has five faculties: letters (1917), law and political science (1917), economic and commercial sciences (1932), engineering (1933), education (1947), and 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 has been the Revista de la Universidad Católica del Perú.
BIBL.: For the University of San Marcos: St. d’Isray, Hist. des universités, II, Paris 1935, pp. 7-9 (with bibliography); Statuta Pontif. et Civil. Facult. Limanae s. theol., Vatican City 1937; A. Walz, Compendium hist. Ord. Praedicatorum, 2nd ed., Rome 1948, p. 436; for the Catholic University: J. Dintilhac, Resumen histórico de la Universidad, in Anuario de la Pontif. Univers. Católica del Perú, Lima 1947, pp. 7-20.
(courtesy of Fr Abbot J. Albareda, O.S.B.) Lima, archdiocese of — Panorama of Lima.
