PIRACICABA, DIOCESE of. — City and diocese in the State of S. Paulo in Brazil.
It has an area of 1,400 sq. km. and a population of 167,000 inhabitants, of whom 160,000 are Catholics. It has 12 parishes served by 15 diocesan and 13 religious priests; it has a seminary, 2 male and 9 female religious communities (Ann. Pont., 1952, p. 319).
The diocese was created by Pope Pius XII by the apostolic constitution Vigil Campinensis ecclesiae antistes of 26 February 1944, through the partition of the diocese of Campinas, and by elevating to the rank and dignity of a cathedral the church dedicated to S. Antonio of Padua existing in P. The diocese is suffragan to S. Paolo of Brazil. The first bishop is the current Mons. E. de Paula.
BIBL.: AAS, 36 (1944), pp. 235-37; G. B. Lehmann, O Brasil Catálico, 1947, Juiz de Fora 1947, pp. 289-91. Virginio Battezzati