Sucre, Archdiocese of

SUCRE, Archdiocese of. - Capital city of the department of Chuquisaca and archdiocese in Bolivia (South America).

It has an area of 50,875 sq km with 40,000 inhabitants, of whom 36,400 are Catholics; it has 13 deaneries, 35 parishes served by 36 diocesan priests and 30 regulars; it has 6 male and 9 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 410).

The diocese was created by Pope Julius III on 27 June 1551 and was first called Charcas, as a suffragan of Lima; it was elevated to metropolitan status by Pope Paul V on 20 July 1609; at that time its ecclesiastical province included territories beyond Bolivia, in which little by little it had as suffragans the dioceses of La Paz, S. Cruz and Cochabamba; on 22 May 1919, by decree of the S. Congregazione Concettoriale, the vast territory of the Chaco was detached from the archdiocese of Plata and erected as an apostolic vicariate (AAS, 11 [1919], pp. 234-35). Pope Pius XI, by the apostolic constitution Praedecesoribus nostris of 1 Nov. 1924, detached from the archdiocese certain territories to form the new dioceses of Oruro, Tarija and Potosi, changing the name of the archdiocese itself to S. (AAS, 17 [1925], pp. 501-503). It has as suffragans the dioceses of Potosi, S. Croce de la Sierra and Tarija. The same Pope, by apostolic letter of 8 Apr. 1925, conferred on the metropolitan church dedicated to the Immaculate Conception and containing the chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe the title of minor basilica and insignia on the Chapter (ibid., pp. 229-30). The metropolitan Basilica was built in 1568, with a single nave; the side aisles and the bell tower were added in the 19th century. The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is in solid gold. Adjacent to the Cathedral is the archiepiscopal residence. Notable churches are those of St. Philip, St. Augustine, St. Dominic, La Merced, St. Lazarus and St. Michael.

On 27 March 1644 the University of Chuquisaca was founded, with the title of Royal and Pontifical University of St. Francis Xavier, by bull of 8 Aug. 1623 of Gregory XV and the "Real Cédula" of Philip III of 2 February 1622. The University, until its suppression in 1767, was entrusted to the Jesuits. In 1826 it was reorganized by the marshal de Ayacucho.

Enrico Josi