SANTA MARIA, DIOCESE of. — Suffragan of Porto Alegre, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
It has an area of 71,313 sq km and a population of 900,000, of whom 680,000 are Catholics. The diocese was established by Pope Pius X on 15 August 1910, with the bull Praedecessorum nostrorum; it has 84 parishes, with 97 diocesan priests and 105 religious priests. It has a minor seminary, 48 men’s religious communities, and 83 women’s religious communities. The titular of the diocese is the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and that of the cathedral is Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception.
BIBL.: AAS, 2 (1910), pp. 681-82; Ann. Pont. 1952, p. 362; O Brasil Catolico 1947, Juiz de Fora 1947, pp. 313-40. Virginio Battezzati