NOME DI GESÙ (CEBU), ARCIDIOCESI di. - An archdiocese in the Philippine Islands.
Over an area of 4,329 sq. km. live 1,122,132 inhabitants, of whom 1,112,264 are Catholics. It has 64 parishes served by 74 diocesan priests and 60 regular clergy, one seminary, 5 male and 10 female religious communities (Ann. Pont., 1951, p. 291).
It was founded on 14 Aug. 1595 by Clemente VIII, with the erection of the ecclesiastical province of Manila. The diocese of Jaro (1865), the apostolic prefecture of the Marianas (1902), and the dioceses of Zamboanga and Calbayog (1910) were subsequently detached from II. In 1934 C. was raised to a metropolitan see; the archiepiscopal residence is in C.
The territory was discovered in 1521 by Magalhanes. Seven Augustinians, led by Andrea de Urdaneta, began missionary work in 1565; the Jesuits joined them in 1595. The conversion of the Philippines originated in C. Even today the fortified churches recall the times of the incursions of the Mohammedan Moros. From 1814 to 1819 the secular clergy of the diocese of C. administered the missions of the Marianas.
The Verbites direct the University of S. Carlos, recognized by the government since 1948, with 3,078 students in the Faculties of law, commerce, civil engineering, pedagogy, liberal arts, chemistry, pharmacy, and home economics.