ARRAES (ARRAIS, ARRAIZ) DE MENDOZA, AMADOR. - Portuguese Carmelite writer, born of a noble family at Beja in 1530, died at Coimbra on 1 Aug. 1600. Having entered the Carmelite Order at Lisbon on 24 Jan. 1545, after a year he made his profession at Coimbra. Owing to the renown he soon acquired, he was appointed preacher to King Sebastiano. Cardinal dom Henrique, archbishop of Evora, requested him as his coadjutor, and Gregory XIII appointed him titular bishop of Adrumeto in 1578, later transferring him to the titular see of Tripoli. In 1581 Philip II wished him to be bishop of Portalegre, where A. distinguished himself by his apostolic and charitable activity; he ransomed his diocesan faithful taken prisoner after the defeat of Alcacer-Kibir (1578), and devoted himself during the plague that raged in 1583. He resigned the bishopric in 1596 and retired to the convent at Coimbra.
He wrote the Didlogos, comprising ten conversations on religious, moral, and historical subjects (Coimbra 1589; enlarged 2nd ed., 1604; Lisbon 1846). It is a doctrinal and literary masterpiece, still considered today a model of style, balance, and feeling.