Archdiocese of Porto Alegre

Archdiocese of Porto Alegre Archidioecesis Portalegrensis in Brasilia Arquidiocese de Porto Alegre
Cathedral of Our Lady, Mother of God, Porto Alegre Cathedral of Our Lady, Mother of God, Porto Alegre
Location
Country	Brazil
Territory	Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul
Ecclesiastical province	Porto Alegre
Statistics
Area	13,530 km2 (5,220 sq mi)
Population Total Catholics	(as of 2013) 3,395,000 2,527,000 (74.4%)
Parishes	156
Information
Denomination	Catholic Church
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	7 May 1848 (178 years ago)
Cathedral	Metropolitan Cathedral of Porto Alegre
Patron saint	Saint Peter
Secular priests	362
Current leadership
Pope	Leo XIV
Archbishop	Jaime Spengler
Auxiliary Bishops	Leomar Antônio Brustolin Aparecido Donizete de Souza Adilson Pedro Busin Darley José Kummer
Bishops emeritus	Dadeus Grings
Website
arquidiocesepoa.org.br

The Archdiocese of Porto Alegre (Latin: Archidioecesis Portalegrensis in Brasilia) is a Latin Church metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil.

The archdiocese's cathedral is the Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady Mother of God in Porto Alegre. Archbishop Emeritus Dadeus Grings was succeeded by the incumbent, Archbishop Jaime Spengler, who was appointed on 18 September 2013 by Pope Francis, and installed on 15 November 2013.

History

It was erected as the Diocese of São Pedro do Rio Grande by Pope Pius IX on 7 May 1848, on territory split off from the Diocese of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro.

On 15 August 1910, it was elevated by Pope Pius X to the rank of a Metropolitan archdiocese, having lost territories to establish the Diocese of Pelotas, the Diocese of Santa Maria, and the Diocese of Uruguaiana. On 8 September 1934, it lost territories to establish the Diocese of Caxias and the Territorial Prelature of Vacaria. On 18 January 1957, it gained territory back from the Territorial Prelature of Vacaria.

It lost territories on 20 June 1959 to establish the Diocese of Santa Cruz do Sul, on 15 August 1959 to the Diocese of Caxias, on 1 February 1971 to the Diocese of Caxias do Sul, on 2 February 1980 to establish the Diocese of Novo Hamburgo as its suffragan, on 10 November 1999 to establish the Diocese of Osorio as its suffragan, and on 2 July 2008 to establish the Diocese of Montenegro as its suffragan.

It received a papal visit from Pope John Paul II in July 1980.

Statistics

In 2014, it pastorally served around 2,547,000 Catholics (74.4% of 3,423,000 total) on 13,530 km² in 156 parishes and 739 missions with 359 priests (203 diocesan, 156 religious), 59 deacons, 1,450 lay religious (341 brothers, 1,109 sisters), and 44 seminarians.

Ecclesiastical province

Besides administering his own Archbishopric, the Metropolitan supervises the following Suffragan Sees:

• Roman Catholic Diocese of Caxias do Sul
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Montenegro, its daughter
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Novo Hamburgo, its daughter
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Osório, its daughter

Bishops

Suffragan Bishops of São Pedro do Rio Grande

• Feliciano Rodrigues de Araujo Prates (5 May 1851 – 27 May 1858)
• Sebastião Dias Laranjeira (28 September 1860 – 13 August 1888)
• Cláudio Gonçalves Ponce de Leon, CM (26 June 1890 – 15 August 1910), previously Bishop of Goiás, Brazil (13 May 1881 – 26 June 1890)
  • Coadjutor Bishop: João Antônio Pimenta (21 February 1906 – 7 March 1911), Titular Bishop of Pentacomia (21 February 1906 – 7 March 1911); next Bishop of Montes Claros, Brazil (7 March 1911 – 20 July 1943)

Coadjutor bishops

• João Antônio Pimenta (1906–1911)
• Altamiro Rossato, CSsR (1991–2001)
• Dadeus Grings (2000–2001)

See also

• List of Catholic dioceses in Brazil
• Roman Catholicism in Brazil
• Mother Church of the Immaculate Conception (Viamão)

Canonical status and jurisdiction

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Porto Alegre is a metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church.

External links

• Official website

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Archdiocese of Porto Alegre — (PORTALEGRENSIS)

Located in Eastern Brazil. Porto Alegre, the capital and chief port of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, is built on the northern extremity of Lagoa dos Patos and on the eastern shore of the estuary called Rio Guahyba. It was founded in 1742 by a colony of immigrants from the Azores, and was first known as Porto dos Cazaes. In 1770 Governor Jose Marcellino de Figuereido selected it as his official residence, and in 1773 the town received its present name. Raised to the rank of a city in 1822, it was given in 1841 in recognition of its loyalty the title "leal e valorosa". The city is the chief commercial centre of the state, and has a harbour accessible to vessels of not more than ten feet draught. The principal industry of the state is stock-raising, which was first organized by the Jesuit missionaries in the seventeenth century. The municipio has an area of 931 sq. miles; the latest census returns assign the city (including several districts not within the municipal boundaries) a population of 73,574 inhabitants, for the most part of German and Italian extraction. The climate, while cool and bracing in winter, is intensely hot during the summer; the average annual rainfall exceeds thirty inches. Porto Alegre has four newspapers, including the Catholic "Deutsches Volksblatt"; the state institutions include the municipal palace, the governor's palace, the school of engineering, the military college, school of medicine, and four general schools. Christianity was first introduced into the country by the Jesuits in the early part of the seventeenth century, after the Indian slave hunters of São Paulo had forced them to abandon their missions in Upper Paraná. In 1848 the state, which has an area of about 91,300 sq. miles, was formed into the Diocese of São Pedro do Rio Grande do Sul. On 4 March, 1910, Pius X divided the territory of the state between this see (which he raised to metropolitan rank with the title of Porto Alegre, now appointed its seat), and its newly created suffragans, Pelotas, Santa Maria, Uruguayana, and Florianopolis. The religious statistics at the time of the division were: 1,400,000 Catholics, 115,000 Protestants (including 5,000 Methodists), 134 parishes and parochial charges, 245 priests (including 225 regular), 68 brothers, 58 seminarians, nearly 400 sisters, 6 gymnasiums, 2 normal schools, 1 agricultural school, and more than 500 schools and colleges. The principal religious orders of the archdiocese are the Jesuits (St. Joseph's Church, gymnasium etc.), the Pallottini Fathers, the Sisters of St. Francis, the Sisters of St. Catherine, the Sisters of St. Joseph, the Evangelical School Brothers, the Capuchins (who have charge of the episcopal seminary). Nearly all the hospitals are managed by nuns. The chief churches are the Cathedral of Our Lady Madre de Deus, the church of Nossa Senhora des Dores, and the (Jesuit) church of St. Joseph. The present archbishop is the Most Reverend Claoudi Jose Gonçalves Ponce de Leão (born 21 Feb., 1841), transferred from the Diocese of Goyaz to the former Diocese of Rio Grande on 13 May, 1881. On 21 February, 1906, Mgr João Antonio Pimenta, titular Bishop of Pentacomia, was appointed coadjutor with right of succession.

See list of general works in bibliography of article on BRAZIL. Annuaire pontif. Cathol. (Paris, 1911).

Bibliography

General references

• "Metropolitan Archdiocese of Porto Alegre". GCatholic. 22 May 2024. Archived from the original on 16 March 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
• "Changes in Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions in Brazil". GCatholic. 30 April 2024. Archived from the original on 15 March 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
• "Archdiocese of Porto Alegre". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Archdiocese of Porto Alegre". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.