SAN SEPOLCRO, DIOCESE OF
### Altar Maggiore of the church (1304) - S. Sepolcro.
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II. THE CENTER OF STUDIES
Rio is also the most important center of studies in Brazil. Notable are the Museum of Natural History and the National Library.
1. The Seminary
Founded in 1739, closed in 1904, reopened as a minor seminary in 1924, and as a major seminary in 1944, it is a flourishing institution with a new building, whose first stone was laid by Mgr. J. de Barros Camara on 15 Sept. 1944.2. The Catholic University
The idea of a Catholic University, fostered by Cardinal Leme (1930-42), had its first realization with the Catholic Institute of Higher Studies, inaugurated on 24 May 1932. In 1939 the Brazilian episcopate, gathered at the First Plenary Council, announced it to the country in a collective pastoral letter. On 21 June 1940 the civil entity required by Brazilian law ("Sociedade civil « Faculdades Católicas »") was constituted; on 30 Oct. of the same year (dec. 6409) the government granted authorization for the Faculties of Philosophy (and Letters) and Law, solemnly inaugurated on 15 March 1941; in 1943 the School of Social Service was added.After five years of operation, the government issued the decree establishing the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (dec. 8681, of 15 Jan. 1946) and that approving its Statutes (dec. 21.968, dated 21 Oct. 1946). The canonical erection, with the title of Pontifical University, took place by the decree *Laeta caele* of the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and Universities, 20 Jan. 1947 (AAS, 40 [1948], p. 43 ff.). In the same year the University was joined by the Social Institute, founded in 1927; in 1948 the Polytechnic School and the Institute of Comparative Law will cease operations.
The University is located in the "bairro de Botafogo"; its Grand Chancellor is the Cardinal Archbishop. The direction is entrusted to the Jesuits (the organizer and first rector was Fr. Leonel Franca, d. 1948). Periodicals: *Verbum*, a quarterly review of higher culture; *Anuário*, for the life, organization and activities of the University; *Coleção Servir*, for the dissemination of the social sciences. - See pl. CXVII.
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SAN SEPOLCRO, DIOCESE OF
In Tuscany, in the province of Arezzo. The diocese of Borgo S. Sepolcro covers an area of 2,160 sq. km. with a population of 60,000, of whom 54,600 are Catholics, distributed in 136 parishes, served by 102 diocesan priests and 18 religious; it has a seminary, 6 male and 22 female religious communities (Annuario Pontificio 1952, p. 360).
A privilege of Benedict VIII in 1013, in favor of the monastery of S. Sepolcro, constitutes the first historical record of the origin of the church and city of Borgo S. Sepolcro. The monastery undoubtedly arose at the end of the 10th or the beginning of the 11th century, above the oratory of St. Leonard, erected in 934 by the pilgrims Arcano and Egidio on their return from Jerusalem, from where they had brought relics of the Holy Sepulchre. Initially held by the monks of St. Benedict, it passed to the Camaldolese in the following century and gave rise to the formation of a typical and prosperous inland village. Both monastery and village were under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Città di Castello, with whom they long and tenaciously contended for freedom, until Leo X on 2 Sept. 1515 created the diocese, naming as its first bishop the abbot Galeotto de Gratianis, and endowing it with the lands and goods of numerous abbeys, including the notable one of St. Bartholomew of Subcastello (Badia di Succastelli). Since that time it has been a suffragan of Florence. Among the bishops of S. Sepolcro worthy of mention are: N. Tornabuoni (1560), theologian and controversialist; D. Bussotti (1638), former General of the Servites and theologian; G. L. Tilli (1704), founder of the Seminary.
Among the sacred monuments of the city should be recalled the Cathedral with its ancient façade, which, however, has undergone continuous remodeling since the 12th century; St. Francis from the 13th century, notable for its altar and choir of great artistic value. The archive of the ancient abbey was destroyed in 1353. A portion of the later documents is preserved in the Archive of the Episcopal Curia.