LOS ANGELES, ARCIDIOCESI di — City and archdiocese in the State of California in the United States of America. It comprises the counties of Los A., S. Barbara, and Ventura, all within the State of California. It has an area of 9,508 square miles, with 4,635,113 inhabitants, of whom 690,200 are Catholics, distributed among 234 parishes, 143 chapels, 43 missions, and 16 stations, served by 482 diocesan priests and 285 religious priests; it has the Major Seminary (St. John's Seminary) and the Minor Seminary (Los A. College), 61 male and 171 female religious communities; 138 institutions of education for males; among the institutions of higher education, particular mention should be made of « Loyola University of Los A. », the « College of Arts and Sciences », the « College of Business Administration », the « College of Engineering », and the « School of Law », all entrusted to the Jesuits; 156 institutions of education for females; and 30 institutions for assistance and care. In 1949 there were 2,538 conversions.
On 1 May 1850 Pius IX created the diocese of Monterey, which in 1903 was changed to Monterey and Los A.; Pius XI, by his apostolic constitution of 1 June 1922, divided the diocese of Monterey-Los A. in two, creating the diocese of Los A.-San Diego (AAS, 14 [1922], pp. 539-541) and assigning to it the eight counties of Imperial, Los A., Orange, Riverside, S. Bernardino, S. Diego, S. Barbara, and Ventura. But the same Pontiff, by the apostolic constitution Nimis amplas of 11 July 1936 (AAS, 28 [1936], pp. 488-90), separated the diocese of S. Diego from that of Los A. and at the same time elevated the latter to the rank of metropolitan archdiocese, assigning to it as suffragans the dioceses of S. Diego, Monterey, Fresno, and Tucson.
The patroness of the archdiocese is s. Vibiana; the first bishop was Msgr. F. Garcia Diego y Moreno (d. in 1846).