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.^[1] On November 10, 1915, it was promoted as the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Fortaleza.

Basílica São Francisco das Chagas, Canindé

Bishops of Ceará

• Luís Antônio dos Santos (28 September 1860 – 13 March 1881), appointed Archbishop of São Salvador da Bahia
• Joaquim José Vieira (9 August 1883 – 14 September 1912)
• Manoel da Silva Gomes (16 September 1912 – 10 November 1915)

Metropolitan Archbishops of Fortaleza

• Manoel da Silva Gomes (10 November 1915 – 24 May 1941)
• Antônio de Almeida Lustosa, SDB (19 July 1941 – 16 February 1963)
• José de Medeiros Delgado (10 May 1963 – 26 March 1973)
• Aloísio Lorscheider, OFM (26 March 1973 – 12 July 1995), elevated to Cardinal in 1976; appointed Archbishop of Aparecida, Sao Paulo
• Cláudio Hummes, OFM (26 May 1996 – 15 April 1998), appointed Archbishop of São Paulo (Cardinal in 2001)
• José Antônio Aparecido Tosi Marques (13 January 1999 – 11 October 2023)
• Gregório Leozírio Ben Lâmed da Paixão Neto, O.S.B. (11 October 2023 - present)

Coadjutor bishop edit

• Manuel Antônio de Oliveira Lopes (1908-1910), did not succeed to see; appointed Bishop of Alagôas

Auxiliary bishops edit

• Manoel da Silva Gomes (1911-1912), appointed Bishop here
• Elizeu Simões Mendes (1950-1953), appointed Bishop of Mossoró, Rio Grande do Norte
• Expedito Eduardo de Oliveira (1953-1959), appointed Bishop of Patos, Paraiba
• Raimundo de Castro e Silva (1957-1991)
• Gérard-Paul-Louis-Marie de Milleville, CSSp (1964-1984); Archbishop (personal title)
• Miguel Fenelon Câmara Filho (1970-1974), appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Maceió, Alagoas
• Manuel Edmilson da Cruz (1974-1994), appointed Bishop of Limoeiro do Norte, Ceara
• Geraldo Nascimento, OFMCap (1992-1997)
• Adalberto Paulo da Silva, OFMCap (1995-2004)
• Sérgio da Rocha (2001-2007), appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Teresina, Piaui; future Cardinal
• Plínio José Luz da Silva (2001-2003), appointed Bishop of Picos, Piaui
• José Luiz Ferreira Salles, CSsR (2006-2012), appointed Bishop of Pesqueira, Pernambuco
• Rosalvo Cordeiro de Lima (2011-
• José Luiz Gomes de Vasconcelos (2012-2015), appointed Bishop of Sobral, Ceara
• Valdemir Vicente Andrade Santos (2018-
• Júlio César Souza de Jesus (2018-

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops edit

• Antônio Xisto Albano, appointed Bishop of São Luís do Maranhão in 1901
• Quintino Rodrigues de Oliveira e Silva, appointed Bishop of Piaui in 1913 (did not take effect); appointed Bishop of Crato, Ceara in 1915

• Diocese of Crateús
• Diocese of Crato
• Diocese of Iguatu
• Diocese of Itapipoca
• Diocese of Limoeiro do Norte
• Diocese of Quixadá
• Diocese of Sobral
• Diocese of Tianguá

• GCatholic.org
• Catholic Hierarchy
• Archdiocese website (Portuguese)

3°43′29″S 38°31′28″W / 3.7247°S 38.5244°W / -3.7247; -38.5244