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Archdiocese of Olinda e Recife

Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Brazil

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 5, 2026
Entity authorityQ1149429 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Olinda and Recife (Latin: Archidioecesis Metropolitae Olindensis et Recifensis) is a Latin metropolitan archdiocese in northeast Brazil's Pernambuco state.

Special churches

Its cathedral archiepiscopal see is a World Heritage Site (Minor): Catedral Metropolitana São Salvador do Mundo, in Olinda

Its Co-Cathedral is São Pedro dos Clérigos, dedicated to Saint Peter of Clerics, in Recife

Further it has Minor Basilicas :

Basílica Abacial do Mosteiro de São Bento de Olinda, in Olinda

Basílica de Nossa Senhora do Carmo, in Recife

Basílica Nossa Senhora de Penha, Pernambuco

Basílica Sagrado Coração de Jesus, Recife

Basílica Santuário de Nossa Senhora Auxiliadora, in Jaboatão dos Guararapes

Historic churches

Capela Dourada, Recife

Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Conceição dos Militares, Recife

Igreja dos Santos Cosme e Damião, Igarassu

Igreja e Convento de Santo Antônio, Igarassu

History

Established on 17 July 1614 as Territorial Prelature of Pernambuco, on territory split off from the then Diocese of São Salvador da Bahia de Todos os Santos

Promoted on 11 November 1676 and renamed after its see as Diocese of Olinda

Lost territories repeatedly: on 1677.08.30 to establish Diocese of São Luís do Maranhão, on 1854.06.06 to establish Diocese of Ceará, on 1892.04.27 to establish Diocese of Paraiba and on 1900.07.02 to establish Diocese of Alagôas

Promoted on 5 December 1910 as Metropolitan Archdiocese of Olinda, having lost territory to establish the Diocese of Floresta, its suffragan

Renamed on 26 July 1918 as Metropolitan Archdiocese of Olinda e Recife, reflecting its double see

Lost territories repeatedly again : on 1918.08.02 to establish Diocese of Garanhuns and Diocese of Nazaré, on 1948.08.07 to establish Diocese of Caruaru, and on 1962.01.13 to establish Diocese of Palmares.

Ecclesiastical province

Its Suffragan sees are :

Roman Catholic Diocese of Afogados da Ingazeira

Roman Catholic Diocese of Caruaru

Roman Catholic Diocese of Floresta, a daughter

Roman Catholic Diocese of Garanhuns, a daughter

Roman Catholic Diocese of Nazaré, a daughter

Roman Catholic Diocese of Palmares, its junior daughter

Roman Catholic Diocese of Pesqueira

Roman Catholic Diocese of Petrolina

Roman Catholic Diocese of Salgueiro

Statistics

As per 2014, it pastorally served 3,804,000 Catholics (94.5% of 4,024,000 total) on 4,058 km² in 114 parishes and 689 missions with 277 priests (122 diocesan, 155 religious), 32 deacons, 1,143 lay religious (251 brothers, 892 sisters) with 63 seminarians.

Bishops

(all Roman Rite)

Episcopal ordinaries

Suffragan Bishops of Olinda

Estevão Brioso de Figueiredo (born Portugal) (16 Nov 1676 - 27 Sep 1683), next Bishop of Funchal (Madeira, Portugal (27 Sep 1683 – death 1689.05.20)

João Duarte do Sacramento not possessed (1685 - death 1685)

Matias de Figueiredo e Mello (12 May 1687 - death 18 July 1694 )

Francisco de Lima (Lemos) (born Portugal) (22 August 1695 - death 29 April 1704), previously Bishop of São Luís do Maranhão (Brazil) (1691.12.19 – 22 August 1695)

Manuel Álvares da Costa (born Portugal) (7 June 1706 - 20 Jan 1721), next Bishop of Angra (Portugal) (1721.01.20 – death 1733.01.10)

José de Fialho (born Portugal) (21 Feb 1725 - 3 Sep 1738), next Metropolitan Archbishop of (São Salvador da) Bahia (Brazil) (1738.09.03 – 1741.01.02), Archbishop-Bishop of Guarda (Portugal) (1741.01.02 – 1741.03.18)

Luiz de Santa Teresa da Cruz Salgado de Castilho (born Portugal) (3 Sep 1738 - death 17 Nov 1757)

Francisco Xavier Aranha (17 Nov 1757 - death 5 Oct 1771), previously Titular Bishop of Thermopylæ (1754.02.11 – 1757.11.17) as Coadjutor Bishop of Olinda (1754.02.11 – 1757.11.17)

Francisco da Assumpção e Brito (born Portugal) (8 March 1773 - 20 Dec 1773), next Metropolitan Archbishop of Goa (then Portuguese India) (1773.12.20 – retired 1783.06.23), died 1808

Tomaz da Encarnação da Costa e Lima (18 April 1774 - died 14 Jan 1784)

Diego de Jesus Jardim (14 Feb 1785 - 21 Feb 1794), next Bishop of Elvas (Portugal) (1794.02.21 – death 1796.05.30)

José Joaquim da Cunha Azeredo Coutinho (12 Sep 1794 - 6 Oct 1806), next Bishop of Elvas (Portugal) (1806.10.06 – death 1821.09.12)

José Maria de Araújo (born Portugal) (6 Oct 1806 - death 21 Sep 1809)

Antônio de São José Bastos (15 March 1815 - death 19 July 1819)

? Tomaz de Noronha e Brito (1828 – 1829) (23 June 1828 - death 6 March 1829)

? Tomas Manoel de Noronha e Britto (born Portugal) (23 June 1828 - death 6 March 1829)

João da Purificação Marques Perdigão (28 Feb 1831 - retired 30 April 1864), previously Bishop of Cochin (India) (1819.12.17 – 1828.06.23); died 1874

BIOS to ELABORATE

Francisco Cardoso Aires (20 Dec 1867 - 12 May 1870)

Vital Maria Gonçalves de Oliveira (21 May 1871 - 4 July 1878)

José Pereira da Silva Barros (7 Jan 1881 - 25 June 1891), appointed Bishop of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro

João Fernando Santiago Esberard (Esberrard) (born Spain) (12 May 1891 - 12 Sep 1893), appointed Archbishop of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro

Manoel dos Santos Pereira (12 Sep 1893 - 25 April 1900 )

Luís Raimundo da Silva Brito (23 Feb 1901 - 5 Dec 1910 see below)

Metropolitan Archbishops of Olinda

Luís Raimundo da Silva Brito (see above 5 Dec 1910- 9 Dec 1915)

Sebastião (Leme) da Silveira Cintra (29 April 1916 - 29 April 1918 see below)

Metropolitan Archbishops of Olinda & Recife

Sebastião (Leme) da Silveira Cintra (see above 29 April 1918 - 15 March 1921), appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro; future Cardinal

Miguel de Lima Valverde † (10 Feb 1922 - 7 May 1951)

Antônio de Almeida Moraes Junior † (17 Nov 1951 - 23 April 1960), appointed Archbishop of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro

Carlos Gouveia Coelho † (23 April 1960 - 7 March 1964 )

Helder Pessoa Câmara † (12 March 1964 - 2 April 1985), world-famous liberation theology icon

José Cardoso Sobrinho (2 April 1985 - 16 August 2009)

Antônio Fernando Saburido (16 August 2009 - 14 June 2023).

Editorial summary

“Archdiocese of Olinda e Recife” enters the record as catholic ecclesiastical territory in Brazil. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Archdiocese, Olinda and Recife can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1614, 1676, 1677, 1854—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Archdiocese, Olinda and Recife.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Archdiocese of Olinda e Recife” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Archdiocese, Olinda and Recife provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1149429. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1614, 1676, 1677 and 1854.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Archdiocese of Olinda e Recife” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.