Roman Catholic Archdiocese of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro

Archdiocese of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro Archidioecesis Sancti Sebastiani Fluminis Ianuarii
Old Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro
Location
Country	Brazil
Ecclesiastical province	Province of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro
Metropolitan	Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro
Population - Catholics	3,556,095 (60.7%)
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	July 19, 1575
Cathedral	Rio de Janeiro Cathedral
Patron saint	Saint Sebastian (principal) and Saint Anne (secondary)
Current leadership
Pope	Benedict XVI
Archbishop	Orani João Tempesta O. Cist.
Auxiliary Bishop	Edson de Castro Homem, Antônio Augusto Dias Duarte, Wilson Tadeu Jönck S.C.I., Dimas Lara Barbosa, Assis Lopes
Website
arquidiocese.org.br

The Archdiocese of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro (Latin: Archidioecesis Sancti Sebastiani Fluminis Ianuarii, lit. "Archdiocese of St. Sebastian of Rio de Janeiro") in Brazil was established as a territorial prelature on July 19, 1575. It was elevated to the status of a diocese on November 16, 1676. It was later elevated to a metropolitan see on April 27, 1892. On May 6, 2003, the territorial abbey of Nossa Senhora do Monserrate do Rio de Janeiro was suppressed and added to the archdiocese. The current Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro is Orani João Tempesta O. Cist. since 2009. Cardinals Eugênio de Araújo Sales and Eusébio Scheid S.C.I. are Archbishops Emeriti.

Territorial Prelates, Bishops and Metropolitan Archbishops of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro since 1575

Territorial Prelates

• Bartolomeu Simões Pereira (11 May 1577 Appointed - 1591 Resigned)
• João da Costa (1603 Appointed - 1606 Died)
• Bartholomeu Lagarto (1606 Appointed - 1606 Died)
• Mateus da Costa Aborim (1606 Appointed - 1629 Died)
• Máximo Pereira O.S.B. ( 1629 Appointed - 1629 Died)
• Lourenço de Mendonça (22 Jul 1631 Appointed - 1637 Resigned)
• Pedro Homem Albernaz (1639 Appointed - 1643 Died)
• Antonio de Mariz Loureiro (8 Oct 1643 Appointed - 1657 Died)
• Manuel de Sousa e Almada (12 Dec 1658 Appointed - 1671 Died)
• Francisco da Silveira Dias (1671 Appointed - 14 Dec 1671 Resigned)
• Manuel Pessoa de Figueiredo (15 Feb 1673 Appointed - 28 Aug 1673 Died)

Bishops

• Manoel Pereira O.P. (22 Nov 1676 Appointed - 1680 Resigned)
• José de Barros Alarcão (19 Aug 1680 Appointed - 6 Apr 1700 Died)
• Francisco de São Jerõnimo de Andrade S.C.I. (8 Aug 1701 Appointed - 7 Mar 1721 Died)
• Antônio de Guadalupe O.F.M. (21 Feb 1725 Appointed - 31 Aug 1740 Died)
• João da Cruz Salgado de Castilho O.C.D. (19 Dec 1740 Appointed - 4 Dec 1745 Resigned)
• Antônio de Nossa Senhora do Desterro Malheiro O.S.B. (15 Dec 1745 Appointed - 5 Dec 1773 Died)
• José Joaquim Justiniano Mascarenhas Castello Branco (20 Dec 1773 Appointed - 28 Jan 1805 Died)
• José Caetano da Silva Coutinho (26 Aug 1806 Appointed - 27 Jan 1833 Died)
• Manoel de Monte Rodrigues de Araújo (23 Dec 1839 Appointed - 11 Jun 1863 Died)
• Pedro Maria de Lacerda (24 Sep 1868 Appointed - 12 Nov 1890 Died)

Metropolitan Archbishops

Since Pope St. Pius X appointed the third Metropolitan Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, Joaquim Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti, a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church in 1905, all subsequent Archbishops were either elevated to the Cardinalate during their service in the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, or were transferred to that Metropolitan See when already members of the College of Cardinals. Accordingly, current Archbishop Orani João Tempesta is expected to be raised to the Cardinalate in the future.

• José Pereira da Silva Barros (25 Jun 1891 Appointed - 1 Sep 1893 Resigned. First appointed as Bishop; promoted to Archbishop upon elevation of the Diocese to the rank of Metropolitan Archdiocese in 1892).
• João Fernando Santiago Esberrard (12 Sep 1893 Appointed - 22 Jan 1897 Died)
• Joaquim Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti (24 Aug 1897 Appointed - 18 Apr 1930 Died. Created Cardinal in 1905)
• Sebastião Leme da Silveira Cintra (18 Apr 1930 Succeeded - 17 Oct 1942 Died. Created Cardinal in 1930)
• Jaime de Barros Câmara (3 Jul 1943 Appointed - 18 Feb 1971 Died. Created Cardinal in 1946).
• Eugênio de Araújo Sales (13 Mar 1971 Appointed - 25 Jul 2001 Retired. Created Cardinal in 1969).
• Eusébio Scheid S.C.I. (25 Jul 2001 Appointed - 27 Feb 2009 Retired. Created Cardinal in 2003).
• Orani João Tempesta O. Cist. (27 Feb 2009 Appointed - )

Current Suffragan Dioceses

• Diocese of Barra do Piraí-Volta Redonda
• Diocese of Duque de Caxias
• Diocese of Itaguaí
• Diocese of Nova Iguaçu
• Diocese of Valença