SAN SALVATORE DELLA BAIA, ARCIDIOCESIS OF
City and archdiocese in the State of Bahia, Brazil. It is the primatial see of the country and the metropolitan see of the ecclesiastical province of S. Salvador, which includes the dioceses of Barra do Rio Grande, Caetité, Ilhéus, Bonfim, and Amargosa. The archdiocese covers approximately 57,297 sq. km. with a population of 1,471,905, of whom 1,138,563 are Catholics distributed in 103 parishes, served by 91 diocesan priests and 158 religious; it has two seminaries; 18 male religious communities and 40 female. The patron saint is St. Francis Xavier; the feast is celebrated on December 3.
The city of Salvador is located at 12° 55' 48" S latitude and 38° 01' 06" W longitude and has 38,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the state government, a commercial, intellectual, political, and military center, and an outlet for the export of regional products. The areas produce cocoa, coconut, oranges, cereals, and serve as a port for some Brazilian, American, and European shipping companies. The city is distinctly divided into a lower and an upper part, that is, the commercial zone as opposed to the residential and administrative one. Despite urban modifications, Salvador is the Brazilian capital that most preserves its colonial lines.
### HISTORY
The Portuguese crown, having reacquired the region from the feudal lord, founded the city of Salvador in All Saints’ Bay to establish there the seat of the central government of Brazil. With the first governor, the first Jesuits who had ever seen the New World disembarked (March 29, 1549). Forty years later the city already had 800 families and had become a great commercial empire, thanks to the export of new species of animals and plants.
The city experienced rapid growth, especially in sugar production. This progress continued unabated, thanks to the presence of the governors. Nevertheless, in 1624 the city fell prey to the Dutch, who, once established within its walls, were driven out by the arrival of powerful forces from Portugal and Spain. A new Dutch attack and retreat occurred in 1638, after which, with few exceptions, the city enjoyed a long tranquility. But in 1763 it had to transfer to Rio de Janeiro the prerogatives it had received in 1715 as capital of the vice-royalty of Brazil, which marked its political colonial decline, although it retained great religious and intellectual influence. Salvador was the last stronghold of Portuguese reaction to Brazilian independence, which was consecrated victorious in the battle of July 2, 1823.
Pope Julius III, with the bull *Super specula militantis Ecclesiae* of February 25, 1551, elevated Salvador to a diocese, subjecting it to the metropolitan see of Lisbon. During this period it had the following bishops: Pedro Fernando des Sardinha (1551–56); Pedro Leitão (1559–73); Antônio Barreiros (1575–96); Constantino Barradas (1603–17); Marcos Teixeira (famous for the defense of the city against the Flemish, 1622–24); Miguel Pereira (did not reach the diocese, 1629–30); Pedro da Silva Sampaio (1634–49); Estêvão dos Santos (1672). Innocent XI, with the bull *Inter pastorali officii curas* of November 16, 1676, established an ecclesiastical province with Salvador as its metropolitan see, which, besides the then-erected dioceses of Rio and Olinda, included the African sees of São Tomé and Angola. The archdiocese was then governed by the following pastors: Gaspar Barata de Mendoza (1677, governed through delegates); João da Madre de Deus (1683–86); Manuel da Ressurreição (1688–91); João Francisco de Oliveira (1697–1700); Sebastião Monteiro da Vide (convened a provincial synod [1707] that established canonical rules in the colony, 1702–22); José Fialho (1739); José Botelho de Matos (1741–60, when he was dismissed for refusing to comply with the suspension of the Jesuits ordered by Pombal); Manuel de Santa Inês (1771); Joaquim Borges de Figueiró (1773–78); Antônio de São José (1779); Antônio Corrêa (1781–1802); José de Santa Escolástica (1803–14); Francisco de São Dâmaso Abreu Vieira (founded the seminary and first assumed the title of Primate of Brazil, 1815–16); Vicente da Soledade (1820–23); Romualdo Antônio de Seixas (great statesman, 1828–60); Manuel Joaquim da Silveira (1861–74); Joaquim Gonçalves de Azevedo (1874–79); Luiz Antônio dos Santos (1880–89); Antônio Macedo Costa (1889–90); Jerônimo Tomé da Silva (1891–1924); Augusto Álvaro da Silva (1925).
In the archdiocese are famous the Benedictine abbey of Mosteiro de São Bento, founded in 1581; the convent and church of São Francisco, renowned for its gilding and artistic treasures. As works of colonial art (v. MODERNA, ARTE SACRA) one should recall almost all the ancient churches of the city, and particularly those of Conceição da Praia, Graça, and Vitória, where there is an abundance of wooden sculptures, always in the Portuguese baroque style; nor should one forget the religious museum preserved in the Cathedral.
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SAN PIETRO AND MIQUELON, APOSTOLIC PREFECTURE OF THE ISLANDS OF
Comprises a small group of islands belonging to France, located south of Newfoundland.
From the beginning of the 17th century, these islands were a center for fishing, especially visited by the French. The fishermen built a chapel in St. Pierre in 1689 and another in Miquelon. The wars between France and England made the inhabitants acquainted with the horrors of various invasions and deportations by Protestant Englishmen. Religious assistance was provided by secular or regular priests, especially by the chaplains of the King’s ship during the fishing season.
At the papal audience of May 26, 1763, the Holy See granted to the King of France four apostolic prefectures of the secular clergy for the islands of Santo Domingo, Martinique, Cayenne, and St. Pierre and Miquelon. The first apostolic prefect (who actually reached the see) for St. Pierre and Miquelon was Giuliano Becquet, who, together with the vice-prefect G. B. Paradis, was appointed