SANT'ANTONY, ARCHDIOCESE OF. - City and archdiocese of the State of Texas, U.S.A. The Archdiocese of S. A. comprises the entire State of Texas, except for the Diocese of El Paso and the State of Oklahoma.
It has a surface area of 33,025 square miles and a total population of 899,702 inhabitants, of whom 281,185 are Catholics, served by 312 priests, of whom 176 are religious from 13 different congregations; it has 106 parishes, 61 chapels, 101 missions, 1,282 sisters from 36 congregations, one seminary with 87 diocesan seminarians and 95 others, 3 scholastics, 3 colleges and universities with 3,273 students, 1 orphanage, and 5 hospitals.
The first priests were French, who came with the La Salle expedition. They settled in Matagorda Bay in 1585. They were followed by Franciscans and Sulpicians. The former then opened missions along the Rio Grande. The first religious was Fr. Damiano Mazaret, who accompanied the expedition of Alonzo de León in 1685.
The territory of Texas was under the jurisdiction of Guadalupe until December 1777, when it became part of the new Diocese of Nuevo León or Linares. In 1813 all Franciscan missions were suppressed by the Spanish government. Gregory XVI created an apostolic prefecture for Texas in 1839, and Rev. J. Timon was appointed apostolic prefect. The prefecture was elevated to an apostolic vicariate on 10 July 1841, and Msgr. Giovanni M. Odin, Bishop of Claudiopolis, was appointed apostolic vicar. In 1847 the Diocese of Galveston was created for the entire State of Texas, and on 3 September 1874 that of S. A. was established, with Msgr. Antoine Dominique Pellicier as its first bishop. The diocese was elevated to an archdiocese by Pius XI with the apostolic constitution *Pastoris aeterni* of 3 August 1926 (AAS, 19 [1927], pp. 169-76).
SANTARÉM, PRELATURE and TERRITORY NULLIUS OF. - Suffragan of Belém do Pará, in the State of Pará, Brazil.
It has a surface area of 362,000 sq. km., with a population of 190,000 inhabitants, of whom 162,000 are Catholics and 6,000 Indians. Erected by consistorial decree on 21 September 1903, it has 18 parishes with 2 diocesan priests and 32 regulars. It has 11 male and 6 female religious communities. There are missionary sisters of the Immaculate Conception.