MONTSECILAROS, Diocese of. – A city and diocese in the extreme northern part of the State of Minas Gerais in Brazil. It covers an area of 129,328 sq. km. with a population of 401,000, of whom approximately 400,000 are Catholics. There are 26 parishes served by 20 diocesan priests and 17 religious priests, one seminary, three male religious communities and four female religious communities. The diocese is a suffragan of Diamantina.
The diocese was erected by Pius X with the bull Postulat of 10 December 1910, carved out of the Diocese of Adamantina. Its first bishop was Msgr. J. A. Pimenta (d. 1943).
The cathedral is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception and St. Joseph, patrons of the diocese. In 1950 a diocesan college and commercial school “Nossa Senhora Aparecida” was opened; in 1951 the domestic school “Nossa Senhora da Misericórdia” and the orphanage “Nossa Senhora do Perpétuo Socorro.”
The diocesan newspaper is Tribuna do Norte.