PARAÍBA, DIOCESE OF. — City and diocese in the State of Paraíba, Brazil.
It has an area of 64,000 sq. km. with a population of 679,087 inhabitants, of whom 645,132 are Catholics, distributed in 34 parishes, served by 45 diocesan priests and 16 regular clergy, two seminaries, 16 male religious communities and 19 female (Ann. Pont., 1952, p. 306).
The diocese was created by Pope Leo XIII on 27 July 1892, by separation from the Diocese of Olinda. Its first bishop was Msgr. Adaucto de Miranda Henriques. On 6 February 1914, Pope St. Pius X elevated it to a metropolitan see, assigning as suffragan dioceses Caicó, Cajazeiras, Campina Grande, Natal, and Mossoró. The cathedral is dedicated to Our Lady of the Snows.
BIBL.: J. B. Lehmann, O Brasil Católico 1947, Juiz de Fora 1947, pp. 262-67.