SANTIAGO OF CAPE VERDE, DIOCESE OF — On the island of Cape Verde in Africa, a Portuguese colony. It has an area of 4,033.37 sq km and a population of 176,687, of whom 168,109 are Catholics, distributed in 30 parishes, served by 7 diocesan priests and 21 religious; it has 4 male and 2 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1952, p. 365).
Unfortunately, no explicit information is available about the early apostolic work on the islands of Cape Verde. Friar Ferdinando della Soledad (Hist. serafica, III, p. 340) speaks of the friars of his Order who would have worked in Cape Verde in 1462, but in such a way that it is difficult to determine whether this refers to the islands of Cape Verde or to the coast of Cape Verde (Senegal). In May 1532, John III submitted a request to the Holy See through D. Martino of Portugal for the establishment of various bishops, including one on the island of Santiago in Cape Verde. To provide for the bishop’s maintenance, the king requested that the episcopal table be supplemented by the Cistercian monastery of S. Pedro das Águias in the diocese of Lamego. With the bull Pro excellenti (31 Jan. 1553), Clement VIII established the diocese of Cape Verde, detaching from the diocese of Funchal all the islands of Cape Verde and the coastal territory from the Gambia River to Cape Palmas. The prelate was a suffragan of Funchal, which had been elevated to a metropolitan see at that time. The first bishop appointed but not installed was D. Braz Neto. Only in 1550 did the diocese have its first bishop in the person of Giovanni Parvi, a Frenchman by origin, canon and archdeacon of the cathedral of Évora, elected bishop in 1553.
With the bull Solemnis conventionibus, the territory of Portuguese Guinea was detached from the diocese and erected as a mission *sui iuris* (4 Sept. 1940).