SAN TOMMASO, DIOCESE OF
Diocese and island of the same name in Portuguese Guinea (Africa). The diocese covers an area of 964 sq. km. with a population of 60,540, of whom 36,149 are Catholics; it has 10 parishes served by 8 regular priests and 1 diocesan priest (Ann. Pont. 1952, p. 367).
The territory of this diocese consists of the Portuguese islands of S. T. and Príncipe in the Gulf of Guinea and is a suffragan of Luanda (bull *Solemnibus conventionibus*, 4 Sept. 1940). Vacant since the 19th century but not extinct, it is administered by the Archbishop of Luanda through a vicar general.
On 17 June 1532, John III, King of Portugal, entrusted D. Martin of Portugal with requesting from the Pope the erection of the Diocese of S. T., which was to comprise the islands of S. T., S. Antão, Fernando Pó, S. Helena, and Ano Bom, as well as the mainland from S. Jorge da Mina—where the Diocese of Cape Verde ended—to the Cape of Good Hope. The King further requested the Holy See to annex to the episcopal table of the new diocese the Cistercian monastery of S. John of Tarouca. On 31 January 1533, Clement VII referred the King’s request but, in part, the bulls were not issued in time. However, Paul IV, with the bull *Aequum reputamus* (3 Nov. 1534), carried out all the determinations of his predecessor regarding the erection of the cathedral of S. T. The diocese was constituted by the continental territory from the river of S. André, near Cape Palmas on the Guinea coast—where the Diocese of Cape Verde ended—to the Cape of Good Hope, and also to the Cape of Needles; by the islands of S. T., S. Antão, Fernando Pó, S. Helena, and Ano Bom; and by the part of the ocean to the west, enclosed between two parallels, one from the mouth of the river of S. André and the other from the Cape of Needles, including all islands already discovered or to be discovered in the future. The diocese was a suffragan of Funchal and had 12 canons and 5 dignitaries. Later, the bishoprics of Congo and Angola were separated from this diocese, as they were suppressed with the establishment of new dioceses (bull *Solemnibus conventionibus*).