BARTOLOMEO do QUENTAL, venerable. - Portuguese religious, born at Fenaes in 1626 and died at Lisbon in 1698. In Portugal he founded, in imitation of that of St. Filippo Neri, the Congregation of the Oratory, which exercised great influence on contemporary society; he increased its prestige through his active and exemplary life and through the fervent spirit of charity that inspired his work and his words. He lacked neither hearers nor readers, for, as confessor and preacher to Giovanni IV, he was an eloquent orator and a simple and moving writer. Deservedly esteemed for purity of language and a sincere spirit of devotion are the sermons whose printing he himself supervised, as well as his numerous meditations.
Among his works, particular mention should be made of the Meditações da infância de Cristo Senhor nosso (Lisbon 1666), the Meditações da sacratísima Paixão de Cristo Senh. nosso (ibid. 1675), and the Meditações dos domingos do anno, in three parts (ibid. 1695, 1696, 1697). The Sermões, in two parts, were first published in 1692 and 1694. His Cause of beatification was introduced on 8 April 1744.