SANTIAGO DE 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 inhabitants, of whom 168,109 are Catholics, distributed in 30 parishes, served by 7 diocesan priests and 21 regulars; it has 4 male religious communities and 2 female (Ann. Pont. 1952, p. 365).
Unfortunately there is no explicit record of the first apostolic labors in the islands of C. V. Fra' Ferdinando della Soledade (Hist. serafica, III, p. 340) speaks of the friars of his Order who are said to have worked in Cape Verde in 1462, but in such a way that it becomes difficult to discover whether he is referring to the islands of Cape Verde or to the coast of Cape Verde (Senegal). In May 1532 John III forwarded a request to the Holy See through D. Martino of Portugal for the establishment of various bishoprics, among them one on the island of S. in Cape Verde. To provide for the maintenance of the bishop, the King asked that the Cistercian monastery of S. Pietro delle Aquile of the diocese of Lamego be annexed to the episcopal mensa. Clement VIII, with the bull Pro excellenti (31 Jan. 1553), 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 as far as Cape Palmas. The prelate was a suffragan of Funchal, then elevated to a metropolitan see. The first bishop appointed but not installed was D. Braz Neto. Only in 1550 did the diocese have its bishop in the person of Giovanni Parvi, French by origin, canon and archdeacon of the cathedral of Evora, elected bishop in 1538. 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).
Bibliography4 works
Carmo da Sil'a