SAN PAOLO DEL BRASILE (SÃO PAULO), ARCHDIOCESE of. — In the State of S. Paulo, in Brazil. It is the metropolis of an ecclesiastical province comprising no fewer than 14 suffragan dioceses, namely, all the dioceses of the State: Botucatú, Campinas, Ribeirão Preto, S. Carlos do Pinhal, Taubaté, Santos, Sorocaba, Bragança, Cafelandia, Assis, Jaboticabal, Rio Preto, Lorena, and Piracicaba.
The archdiocese has an area of 9,146 sq. km. and 2,935,000 inhabitants, of whom 2,641,000 are Catholics, divided among 140 parishes. There are 197 diocesan priests and 577 religious priests; 81 male and 182 female religious communities. In S. P. there are several institutes for the theological formation of religious, a large central seminary for the province, and a preparatory seminary; the minor seminary is in a nearby locality. The city has many Catholic colleges for both sexes and a Catholic university (v. below). The basilica
of Our Lady of Aparecida is also under the jurisdiction of the archbishops of S. P., although it lies within the boundaries of the diocese of Taubaté. Patron: St. Paul; feast, 25 January.
As a city, S. P. lies at 32° 32′ 42″ south latitude and 46° 34′ 30″ west longitude Gr., exactly beneath the Tropic of Capricorn, at an elevation of 815 m above sea level. It is among the largest American cities, with a distinctly cosmopolitan character; it is certainly the largest industrial city in Latin America and a highly important political, banking, and commercial center, a road hub for communications between Rio de Janeiro and the south and between the sea (Santos) and the extreme west of Brazil, as well as a civil and military air base and the seat of a military region. Its decisive growth began 20–30 years ago, in parallel with the peak production of coffee and as the metropolis of the Federation’s foremost State. Today its population is 1,200,000; the urban perimeter continues to expand (according to the statistics for 1936–37, three houses were being built for every hour of work), and the city is characterized by skyscrapers, elevated roadways, and a feverish activity that animates its squares and streets.
I. HISTORY
The origins of S. P. go back to the primitive Jesuit College which the provincial M. da Nobrega had José de Anchieta and his companions build in the plains called Piratininga on 25 January 1554, for the conversion and instruction of the Indians. But from its cradle the primitive “reduction” was the object of the greed of the Portuguese and mamelukes, who intended to subject the natives as slaves, employing calumnies and intrigues against the Jesuits, and ultimately resorting to war, which led the Indians to join the powerful confederation of the Tamoyos, linking several tribes and the French of Villegaignon (v. SAN SEBASTIANO DE RIO DE JANEIRO, ARCIDIOCESI DI), in order to expel the Portuguese. To avert this calamity, the heroic courage of Fathers Nobrega and Anchieta was necessary: they surrendered themselves to the savages as hostages, so that a peaceful settlement might be reached (1563). For the same reason, these initial disputes between the colonists and the Jesuits continued until the suppression of the Order in the Portuguese dominions (1759); shortly before this, they had a tragic sequel in the destruction of the flourishing “reductions” of Paraguay (1756). The paulistas, however, did not traverse the hinterland solely for the purpose of procuring slaves: they organized the famous expeditions known as bandeiras, which explored above all the central-western territory of Brazil, where they discovered rich gold mines and founded the primitive nuclei of many present-day cities, gradually pushing back the line of Tordesillas (1493), which established the boundary with the Spanish possessions. Meanwhile, the city of S. P., spared the attacks of the corsairs who infested the coast, became an important agricultural centre, the capitalof a province (1709), and then the seat of a diocese established by the motu proprio Candor lucis aeternae of 6 December 1745. From the preludes to independence, which was proclaimed near the city (7 September 1822), S. P. became a first-rate political centre in the life of the nation, both during the Regency (1831-40), in the campaigns in favour of the abolition of slavery (1888), in the proclamation of the Republic (1889), and in recent times.
From its erection as a diocese, S. P. has had the following bishops: Bernardo Rodriguez Nogueira (1745-48); Antonio da Madre de Deus Galvão (1750-64); Manuel da Resurreição (1771-89); Mateus de Abreu Pereira (1797-1824); Manuel Joaquim Gonçalves de Andrade (1827-47); Antonio Joaquim de Melo (1852-61); Sebastião Pinto do Rego (1863-68); Lino Deodato de Carvalho (1873-94); Joaquim Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti (1894-97); Antonio Candio de Alvarenga (1897-1903); José Camargo Barros (1904-1906); Duarte Leopoldo e Silva (1907-1908). Then, by the Dioecesium nimiam amplitudinem of 7 June 1908, it received the prerogatives of a metropolitan see, with the division of its territory, in which various episcopal sees were created. It subsequently had the following archbishops: Duarte Leopoldo e Silva (1908-38); José Gaspar de Afonseca e Silva (1939-1943); Cardinal Carlos Carmelo de Vasconcelos Mota (from 1944).
The present Catholic life of the archdiocese has had splendid manifestations in the Fourth National Eucharistic Congress (1942), in social works, in the spiritual exercises of the Marian Congregations, and in the Catholic University, founded only recently (1945). In the development of religious life during past centuries, the Abbey of S. Benedict and the Carmelite convent exercised considerable influence; today they occupy new and artistic premises. Several modern and ancient churches in the city and in the nearby localities (Itú) are also noteworthy, as is the archiepiscopal Curia, which houses an interesting religious museum. The architectural and sculptural work that is rightly the pride of the archdiocese and the city is the grandiose Cathedral in thirteenth-century Gothic style, still under construction: once completed, it will be one of the most notable religious monuments of the New World.
Maurilio Cesar de Lima
II. THE CENTER OF STUDIES
S. P. is also a flourishing cultural center, and its scientific, instructional, and educational institutions are among the most highly esteemed in the country.1. The Seminary
Declared Central following the resolutions of the Congregation and plenary session of 7 July 1932, it has received, since 1934, the philosophy and theology students of more than twenty dioceses of central Brazil; it is subject to an episcopal Supervisory Commission and governed (CIC, can. 1357 § 4) by special norms of the Holy See, issued on 25 March 1936. The new building was inaugurated on 19 March 1934, on the historic hill of Ipiranga (hence the name Seminário Central da Imaculada Conceição do Ipiranga). Its Faculdade teológica N. Sra. da Assunção, which began its academic courses on 7 March 1950, is one of the Faculties affiliated with the Pontifical Catholic University of S. P. The Seminário Menor Metropolitano do Imaculado Coração de Maria, which for more than 40 years, directed by the Premonstratensians of the Abbey of Averbode (Belgium), had operated in Pirapora do Bom Jesus, has also acquired a magnificent new facility in São Roque, inaugurated on 25 March 1949; it is entrusted to the diocesan clergy.2. The Catholic University
Decided upon immediately after the Fourth National Eucharistic Congress of 1942 by the episcopate of the State of S. P., its establishment was carried out by the founding body S. P. (Fundação São Paulo), established on 10 October 1945, whose president is, by right of office, the metropolitan. With decree-law 22 August 1946 (no. 9634), which approved its Statutes, it was recognized as a free university “equated” with those of the State. In the following year its canonical erection took place, with the granting of the title “Pontifical” (decree of the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and Universities of Studies Mira bonorum,
25 January 1947: AAS, 39 [1947], p. 134 ff.), and the corresponding approval of the ecclesiastical Statutes (11 February 1947). The archbishop of S. P. is its grand chancellor.
It presents a rather singular legal aspect because of a certain federative character of its own, which respects the juridical personality and economic autonomy of the individual bodies. It is in fact composed of three categories of Faculties or institutions: incorporated, that is, administered and maintained directly by the Fundação S. P., the founding body of the University; aggregate, those which, recognized by the federal government, form part of the University without being maintained by it, remaining the property of and under the direction of their respective founding and supporting societies; complementary, any other institution of a cultural and technical character “connected with the life or purposes of the University”: a) incorporated are: the Paulista Faculty of Law (founded on 10 October 1945 and recognized by governmental decree of 17 December 1948), located in S. P.; the Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences, and Letters of S. Bento, in S. P., founded by the Benedictines on 13 June 1908 and recognized on 12 November 1940, which, having previously been affiliated with the University of Louvain, was transferred to the Fundação S. P. in 1946; b) aggregate are: the women’s Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences, and Letters of the Instituto Sedes Sapientiae, founded in 1932 by the Canonesses of St. Augustine, in S. P.; the three Faculties of Campinas: Philosophy, Sciences, and Letters (1941), Law (1952), and Economic Sciences (1941), established and maintained by the Sociedade Campineira de Educação e Instrução (diocese of Campinas); the Faculty of Industrial Engineering, established in S. P. in 1946 by the Fundação de Ciências Aplicadas; the Faculty of Economic Studies, founded in 1938 by the Liceo Cuore di Gesù and recognized on 15 July 1948; the Faculty of Theology N. S. dell'Assunzione of the Central Seminary (v. SORA); c) complementary institutions are: the School of Social Service, founded in 1936 by the Centro de Estudos e Ação Social; the Caspar Libero School of Journalism, established in 1947 by the foundation of the same name; d) the following also operate under the auspices of the University: the Faculty of Medicine of Sorocaba and the Faculty of Dentistry of Campinas, founded in 1949. A considerable complex, which lends great importance to the young university. For the two incorporated Faculties of S. P., a new spacious facility was inaugurated on 22 August 1950. The University’s motto: “Sapientia — et augebitur scientia”.