VACARIA. - A *prelatura nullius* in the State of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil).
It covers an area of 17,287 sq. km. and has 145,015 inhabitants, of whom 140,390 are Catholic. There are 17 parishes, served by about thirty Capuchin religious, and a Seraphic Seminary at Villa Ypé. The prelature was established on 8 September 1934 by Pope Pius XI, by detaching it from the archdiocese of Porto Alegre, with its seat in the city of Vacaria and the local church of Nossa Senhora da Oliveira elevated to the status of prelature. Its first prelate was the present Monsignor Fray Candido M. de Caxias, O.F.M.C.
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Bibl.:** AAS, 27 (1935), pp. 356-58; *Ann. Pont. 1953*, p. 675; O Brasil Católico 1947, Iuz de Fora 1947, p. 491 et seq.