Archdiocese of Fortaleza
The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Fortaleza is an archdiocese located in the city of Fortaleza in Brazil.
History
On June 6, 1854, it was established by Pope Pius IX, as the Diocese of Ceará from the Diocese of Olinda. Formerly a part of the Diocese of Pernambuco, the district was erected into a separate diocese, suffragan to the Archdiocese of Bahia. João Guerino Gomes was named as first bishop but did not accept the office. Father Gomes, a philosopher and orator who was well-known in his day, died in 1859. The first bishop, Luis Antonio dos Santos, founded the diocesan seminaries at Fortaleza and Crato, and, for the education of girls, the College of the Immaculate Conception, besides building the church of the Sacred Heart at Fortaleza. On November 10, 1915, it was promoted as the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Fortaleza.Special churches
Basílica São Francisco das Chagas, CanindéBishops
;Bishops of Ceará- Luís Antônio dos Santos, appointed Archbishop of São Salvador da Bahia
- Joaquim José Vieira
- Manoel da Silva Gomes
- Manoel da Silva Gomes
- Antônio de Almeida Lustosa, SDB
- José de Medeiros Delgado
- Aloísio Lorscheider, OFM, elevated to Cardinal in 1976; appointed Archbishop of Aparecida, Sao Paulo
- Cláudio Hummes, OFM, appointed Archbishop of São Paulo
- José Antônio Aparecido Tosi Marques
- Gregório Leozírio Ben Lâmed da Paixão Neto, O.S.B.
Coadjutor bishop
- Manuel Antônio de Oliveira Lopes, did not succeed to see; appointed Bishop of Alagôas
Auxiliary bishops
- Manoel da Silva Gomes, appointed Bishop here
- Elizeu Simões Mendes, appointed Bishop of Mossoró, Rio Grande do Norte
- Expedito Eduardo de Oliveira, appointed Bishop of Patos, Paraiba
- Raimundo de Castro e Silva
- Gérard-Paul-Louis-Marie de Milleville, CSSp ; Archbishop
- Miguel Fenelon Câmara Filho, appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Maceió, Alagoas
- Manuel Edmilson da Cruz, appointed Bishop of Limoeiro do Norte, Ceara
- Geraldo Nascimento, OFMCap
- Adalberto Paulo da Silva, OFMCap
- Sérgio da Rocha, appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Teresina, Piaui; future Cardinal
- Plínio José Luz da Silva, appointed Bishop of Picos, Piaui
- José Luiz Ferreira Salles, CSsR, appointed Bishop of Pesqueira, Pernambuco
- Rosalvo Cordeiro de Lima, appointed Bishop of Sobral, Ceara
- Valdemir Vicente Andrade Santos (2018-2024
- Júlio César Souza de Jesus (2018-
Other priests of this diocese who became bishops
- Antônio Xisto Albano, appointed Bishop of São Luís do Maranhão in 1901
- Quintino Rodrigues de Oliveira e Silva, appointed Bishop of Piaui in 1913 ; appointed Bishop of Crato, Ceara in 1915