SANTIAGO DI CAPO VERDE, DIOCESI 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 inhabitants, of whom 168,109 are Catholics, distributed among 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, there is no explicit information about the first apostolic work in the C. V. islands. Fra' Ferdinando della Soledade (Hist. serafica, III, p. 340) speaks of friars of his Order who are said to have worked in Cape Verde in 1462, but in such a way that it is difficult to determine whether he is referring to the Cape Verde islands or the Cape Verde coast (Senegal). In May 1532 Giovanni III submitted a request to the Holy See through D. Martino del Portogallo for the establishment of various bishoprics, including one on the island of S. in Cape Verde. To provide for the bishop’s maintenance, the King requested that the Cistercian monastery of S. Pietro delle Aquile in the diocese of Lamego be annexed to the episcopal mensa. Clement VIII, by the bull Pro excellenti (31 January 1553), established the diocese of Cape Verde, separating from the diocese of Funchal all the Cape Verde islands and the coastal territory from the Gambia River to Cape Palmas. The prelate was a suffragan of Funchal, which was then elevated to a metropolitan see. The first bishop appointed but not installed was D. Braz Neto. It was only in 1550 that the diocese received its bishop in the person of Giovanni Parvi, French by origin, canon and archdeacon of the cathedral of Evora, elected bishop in
1538. By the bull Solemnis conventionibus, the territory of Portuguese Guinea was separated from the diocese and erected into a mission sui iuris (4 September 1940).