Diocese of Goyaz

Diocese of Goyaz

(Goyasiensis). Co-extensive with the state of the same name, one of the twenty states which, with the Federal District, comprise the Republic of Brazil. It has an area of 288,546 square miles, or a little more than six times that of the State of New York. The longitudinal position of the capital (also called Goyaz) corresponds to about twenty-five degrees east of New York City; and as regards its latitude, it is about as far south of the Equator as, say, Acapulco in Southern Mexico is north of it. The diocese is suffragan of Bahia (the primatial see), and was founded in 1826 by Leo XII. The country is mountainous, one peak of the Serra dos Pyreneos being about 9600 feet high. The soil is naturally fertile and rich in precious metals, but for various reasons the resources of the state are practically undeveloped. Catalãs is at present (1909) the only town touched by a railway. Cattle-rearing is the chief industry. The population is about 400,000. Goyaz, the capital (15,000), founded in 1736 as Santa Anna, contains the cathedral, a lyceum, schools of classics and philosophy, and various elementary schools. The legislative assembly of the state sits here. According to an article of the constitution, the future federal capital of Brazil must occupy an elevated site on a central plateau of the country, and it is suggested that the state of Goyaz offers the most suitable location for the fulfillment of these conditions. The religious statistics are as follows: secular priests, 39; regular, 38; churches and chapels, 36; there is a mission-house of the Dominicans of Toulouse, and also a pension and school of the Dominican nuns.

Garnier, Almanaque Brasileiro (1903-4); Hazell's Annual (London, 1909); Brazil at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (St. Louis, 1904).

T. HUNT