AVEIRO, Diocese of. — In Portugal, a suffragan of Braga. The city of A. (on the site of the ancient Talabuza) is situated on the estuary of the Vouga and is the district capital (2,772 sq. km.). The diocese was erected by Clement XIV on 12 April 1774 at the petition of King Joseph, with territory taken from the diocese of Coimbra. The first bishop was António Freire Gameiro (1774–99). He was succeeded by António José Cordeiro (1800–13), renowned for his charity. After Manuel Pacheco de Resende (1813–37), the see was governed by vicars until its suppression on 30 September 1881. The chapter was never constituted. The diocese of A. was restored on 24 August 1938. It has a Catholic population of 220,000; 84 parishes and 148 diocesan priests.
BIBL.: F. de Almeida, Hist. de Igreja em Portugal, IV, 1, Coimbra 1917, pp. 7–9, 24; IV, 11, ibid. 1922, pp. 324 (n. 2), 326, 371, 417; IV, 11, ibid. 1922, pp. 71, 238; AAS, 31 (1939), pp. 5–8; 32 (1940), p. 53.