MEDELLIN, ARCIDIOCESI of. — Archdiocese and capital city of the department of Antioquia in Colombia. It has an area of 15,000 sq. km., with a population of 800,000, all Catholics. It has 64 parishes served by 275 diocesan priests and 91 religious; one diocesan seminary, 23 male and 145 female religious communities (Ann. Pont., 1951, p. 267).
The city was founded in 1673 by the Antioqueños at an altitude of 1,500 m., on the flank of the Central Cordillera, in an extremely fertile valley; it is a commercial and industrial center, owing to the district’s mineral wealth. The diocese was established by Pius IX on 4 February 1868. Pope Leo XIII raised it to an archdiocese on 24 February 1902, detaching it from the province of S. Fède Bogotá. The Cathedral was begun in 1890 to a design by C. Carré. The Cathedral is in the Romanesque style; the Seminary is the work of the Salesian G. Buscaglione.
The church of Vera Cruz dates from 1682. It has a flourishing Jesuit college.
Its initial nucleus consisted of the Faculty of Law and Political Science. The baccalaureate section followed, at that time under the name of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, and the preparatory section began to operate. On 22 February 1937, its juridical personality was recognized by the national government through Executive Resolution no. 48 of the same year. The government subsequently approved the statutes, regulations, and programs of the various faculties through Resolution no. 653 of 16 October 1938. In 1938 the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism was established; in 1951 the Faculty of Electrical Engineering also began to operate. In addition, the University has a school of commerce and also includes a women’s study circle that maintains the women’s Faculty of Art and Decoration of the College of the Sacred Heart. The University has not neglected its work in the social field: it provides free instruction to workers in the evening circle and admits poor young people to workshops where they learn the trades of mechanic, electrician, and cabinetmaker.
By decree of 16 August 1945, the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and Universities of Studies conferred upon the Institute, nine years after its foundation, the title of Pontifical. Its official organ is the journal Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, regarded as one of the most serious publications in Latin America and to which distinguished thinkers contribute. For the Faculty of Law and Political Science there is also the Revista de Facultad de derecho y ciencias políticas, which, although only recently established, has already received a very favorable reception. Today the University of M. has four faculties for men; another, the women’s Faculty of Art and Decoration, is under its supreme direction, and the corresponding academic degrees are conferred in the name of the Pontifical Bolivarian University. The degrees granted by the University are currently recognized by the national government, which provides the University itself with financial support. It began with 70 students and 25 professors of law. Today it has 2,000 students from throughout the nation and from some neighboring countries; a University City for 5,000 students is therefore now being built on a 20-hectare area owned by the University.
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