It has an area of 10,050 sq. km., with a population of 397,954 inhabitants, of whom 350,000 are Catholic. It comprises 32 parishes, served by 65 diocesan priests and 50 regular clergy, a seminary, 1 male religious community, and 44 female communities. The diocese was erected by Bl. Pius X, with the bull *Diocesanae minimam amplitudinem*, dated 7 June 1908, and its first bishop was Msgr. Epaminonda Nunes de Avila e Silva, who died in 1935. The diocese is a suffragan of São Paulo. The cathedral is dedicated to St. Francis of the Wounds.
BIBL.: Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 418; O Brasil Católico 1947, Juiz de Fora 1947, pp. 430 ff.; Virginio Battezzati.