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 SANTA MARIA

458

SANTANDER

Santa Maria, Diocese of ( Saxct.e Mari.e), a Brazilian see, suffragan of Porto Alegre. The latter, formerly known as the See of Sao Pedro do Rio Grande do Sul, was recently made an archdiocese and divided, three new sees, Pelotas, Santa Maria, and Uruguay- ana, being separated from it bj' Pius X on 15 August, 1910. Santa Maria, containing twenty-two parishes, comprises the central and northern portions of the State of Rio Grande do Sul. The climate is mild, the country well wooded and fertile, and there are many colonies of German and Italian emigrants among the inhabitants, who are chiefly engaged in agriculture and cattle-raising. The population is almost entirely Catholic. The most imiwrtant town is C.achoeira on the Rio Jacuhy, 120 miles west of Porto Alegre, with which it communicates by steamboat and rail. The other main centres of population are Rio Pardo, Santa Alaria, Passo Fundo, and Cruz Alta By a Decree of the S. C. of the Consistory. 6 Feb., 1911, Mgr. Lima de Valverde was appointed first Bishop of Santa Maria.

Galanti, Compendia de Historia de Brazil (Sao Paulo, 1896-

1905). A. A. MacErlean.

Santa Maria de Monserrato (Beatje Marine

ViRGINIS DE MOXTSERRATO), AbBEY NULLIUS OF. —

When it was determined to restore the Benedictine Order in Brazil, the work was entrusted to the Con- gregation of Beuron, 24 April, 1895, under the guid- ance of Dom Gerard van Caloen. By a Decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Consistory, 15 Aug., 1907, the Abbey of Santa Maria de Monserrato at Rio de Janeiro, founded in 1589, was erected into an ab- bey nullius, the same Decree separated the District of Rio Bran CO from the Diocese of Amazones and subjected it to the jurisdiction of the Abbot of Santa Maria de Monserrato. This mission territory is bounded on the north and west by Venezuela, on the north and east by British Guiana, on the south by the two branches of the Rio Branco and the Rio Negro. In the early part of 1898 it was visited by Fathers Libermann and Berthon of the Congregation of the Holy Ghost, who did a little apostohc work among the Catholics .scattered along the banks of the Rio Branco. The region contains 6000 Catholic Brazil- ians, and .50,000 pagan Indians. Mgr. van Caloen, born, 12 March, 18.53; entered the Benedictine Con- gregation of Beuron; was appointed Abbot of Sao Bento at Olinda, 20 May, 189G, and general vicar of the Brazilian congregation in 1899; he was transferred, 28 Feb., 1905, to the monaster}' of Sao Bento, at Rio de Janeiro; made titular Bishop of Phocea, 1.3 Dec, 1907; and elected abbot-general of the Brazihan congrega- tion, 6 Sept., 1908. He resides at Rio de Janeiro. On 8 June, 1907 he obtained a coadjutor. Abbot Dom Chrysostom de Saegher, Abbot of St. Martin of The- baen, who has the right of succession to the abbatial See of Monserrato. A. A. MacErlean.

Santa Marta, Diocese of (Sanct^ Martha), in Colombia, erected in 1.5.35, its first bishop being Alfonso do 'i'obes; suppressed by Paul IV in 1.562; it was re-established by (iregory XIII — 15 April, 1577, as sufTragan of Santa Fe de Bogotd; it became suf- fragan of ('artagena in 19(K), at which time it com- prised the State of Magdalena and the territories of Sierra Nevada y Motilones and Goajira. In 1905 the north-eastern portion of the diocese was formed into the Vicariate Apostolic of Goajira. Magdalena was first visited by Alonso de Ojeda in 1499. Santa Marta, the second town founded by the Spaniards in America, was fistablished by Rodrigo de Bastidas 29 July, 1.525; it was sacked in 1.54.3 and again in 15.55; while Sir P'rancis Drake reduced it to ashes in 1.596. St. IvCMiis Bert rand laboured at Santa Marta for a time, and baptized 15,000 pagans there. The town is situated at the mouth of the Rio Manzaneres, on the Gulf of Santa Marta, 46 miles norfh-eaKt of Barranquilla, and containe about 6000 inhabitants,

an episcopal palace, public college, and conciliar seminary. Sim6n Bolivar d. 17 Dec, 1830, at San Pedro, a few miles distant. A diocesan synod was held at Santa Marta in 1881. The present bishop, Mgr. Francisco Sim6n y Rodenas, O.F.M., was b. at Orihuela, 2 Oct., 1849; appointed as successor of Mgr. Caledon to the see, 1 1 June, 1904; and enthroned, 14 Nov. following. The diocese has an area of 20,400 square miles, and contains 8 deaneries, 42 parishes, 40 secular priests, 3 convents of the Presentation Sisters of Tours with 15 nuns, and about KM), inhabitants, practically all Catholics. The Sistersof Charity estab- lished a hospital and school at Santa Marta in 1883.

MozANS, Up the Orinoco and down the Magdalena (New York,

1910). A. A. MacErlean.

Santander, Diocese of (Sancti Anderii, San- TANDERiENsis), in Spain, takes its name not from St. Andrew as some, misled by the sound of the name, believe, but from St. Hemeterius (Santemter, San- tenter, Santander), one of the patrons of the city and ancient abbey, the other being St. Celedonius. The diocese is bounded on the north bj' the Bay of Biscay, on the east by Vizcaya and Burgos, on the south bj' Burgos and Palencia, on the west by Leon and Oviedo. It is suffragan of Burgos, and comprises most of the civil Province of Santander and parts of those of Alava and Burgos. In Roman times Santander was called Portus Victoriaj, in memory of Agrippa's having conquered it from the Cantabrians, and in the period of the reconquest was regarded as one of the Asturias — Asturias de Sant Ander, be- tween the Rivers Saja and Miesa. The territory was repeopled by Alfonso I, the Catholic. Alfonso II, the Chaste, founded there the Abbey of Sts. Heme- terius and Celedonius, where the heads of those holy martyrs were kept. Alfonso VII, the Emperor, made it a collegiate church. As early as 1068, King Sancho II, the Strong, granted a charter to the Abbey and port of St. Hemeterius in reward for services, and Alfonso V did as much. Alfonso VIII gave the abbot the lordship of the town on 11 July, 1187. In the fourteenth century the canons were still living in community in this abbey, and Abbot Nuiio Perez, chancellor to Queen Maria, drew up constitutions for them; these constitutions were confirmed by King Fernando IV in i:U2, and later by John XXII. The town of Santander aided King St. Ferdinand when he conquered Seville; it broke the iron chains with which the Guadalquiver had been closed, by ramming them with a ship — which is the armorial blazon of the city.

Santander did not become an episcopal see until the reign of F'ernando VI. By a Bull of 12 December, 1754, Benedict XIV confirmed iho creation of the Sec of Santander, making th(> collegiate church a cathedral, and giving it territory taken from the Archdiocese of Burgos. In 1755 Fernando VI raised the town to the rank of a city. The last Abbot and first Bishop of Santander was Francisco Javier de Arriaza, a native of Madrid, who took possession in 1755 and ruled until 1761. The Province of San- tander was formed in 1801, and in 1810 became an independent inlendcncin and one of the provinces in the definitive political organization (see Spain). The city at present has a poj)ulation of 54,700 and is one of the most important harbours on the Bay of Biscay. The cathedral is a structure of very diverse periods, and at one time had the character of a for- tress. Its lower portion contains a spacious crypt, called the parish church of Christ because it serves p.arochial uses. The dark and sombre character of the Htructtire m.arks its original purpose of a pan- theon. It consists of three naves with three apses forming as many chajjels, and a baptistery has been erected in it. The building dates from the twelfth or early thirteenth century, but presents .'idded fea- tures of many later periods. A spiral staircase,