Beja, Diocese of

BEJA, Diocese of. - City in Portugal, in the province of Alemtejo, on a plateau at 300 m. of altitude, with ca. 15,000 inhabitants. B. was erected as a diocese, suffragan of Evora, on 10 June 1770: it is the ancient city Pax Iulia, Pax Augusta, once identified with Badajos (v.). It is unknown when Christianity was introduced there. Under Teudis, king of the Visigoths (531-48) it was an episcopal see, governed by Apringius, known for his commentary on the Apocalypse. The bishops of B. attended the Councils of Toledo. The see disappeared under the Arabs in the middle of the 8th century; yet Christianity still existed there in the following century, since in 851 Sesinandus, a native of B., suffered martyrdom at Cordova. It was reconquered in the second half of the 12th century, and Christian life flourished there again, but for a long time no thought was given to restoring the see, of whose existence even the memory had disappeared. Emmanuele do Cenaculo (1770-1802) was appointed first bishop; he created institutions of study, founded a library and an ecclesiastical academy with the aim of preserving religion. The fine college of St. Sesinandus is the episcopal palace and seminary, the latter founded in 1884. The diocese has 258,595 Catholics, 108 parishes, 42 diocesan priests and 3 regulars (1949).

Giovanni Meseguer