ARRAES (ARRAIS, ARRAIZ) DE MENDOZA, AMADOR. — Portuguese Carmelite writer, born into a noble family in Beja in 1530, died in Coimbra on 19 August 1600. He entered the Carmelite Order in Lisbon on 24 January 1545 and professed a year later in Coimbra. His fame grew quickly, and he was appointed preacher to King Sebastian. Cardinal Dom Henrique, Archbishop of Évora, requested him as his coadjutor, and Gregory XIII named him titular Bishop of Adrumetum in 1578, later transferring him to the titular see of Tripoli. Philip II, in 1581, appointed him Bishop of Portalegre, where Amador distinguished himself through his apostolic and charitable activities; he ransomed his diocesans who had been taken prisoner after the defeat at Alcácer-Quibir (1578) and devoted himself to aiding the victims of the plague that ravaged the region in 1583. He resigned the see in 1596 and retired to the convent in Coimbra.
He wrote the *Diálogos*, which consist of pious conversations on religious, moral, and historical subjects (Coimbra 1589; 2nd enlarged ed., 1604; Lisbon 1846). It is a doctrinal and literary masterpiece, still regarded today as a model of style, balance, and feeling.