Braga, Diocese of

BRAGA, Diocese of. - In the north of Portugal, capital of a department in the province of Minho. Conquered by the Romans and called Bracara Augusta, it formed a conventus of Hispania citerior (Pliny, Nat. hist., III, 3; IV, 20). Invaded by the Vandals in the 5th century and by the Arabs in 716, it was reconquered by Alfonso I the Catholic in the middle of the 8th century. Occupied by the Normans in the 11th century, it was conquered by Ferdinand I (1058-64). The first mention of a bishop of B. by the name of Paternus occurs in the second Council of Toledo in 400. Then are remembered Balconius (415-17), Profuturus, to whom Pope Vigilius sent a letter in 538, St. Martin (569-79), St. Fructuosus (656-65), Peter (1071-91), St. Gerald (1095-1108). Then there is the complete list: especially remembered is Peter of Julian (1273), later Pope John XXI (v.).

It has an area of 4,831 sq km, with a population of 807,540 inhabitants, of whom 807,150 are Catholics; it has 830 parishes with 850 diocesan priests and 135 regulars. Four provincial councils were held in B. in the years 1148, 1292, 1426 and 1566. It has a conciliar seminary founded in 1571 and a minor seminary since 1881. Since the time of Paschal II (1099-1118) B. has been a metropolis. The suffragans of B. are the dioceses of Aveiro, Braganza, Coimbra, Lamego, Porto, Villa Real, Viseu.

The present primatial church rises above the primitive cathedral destroyed by the Arabs; it was completed in the 12th century; it was in Romanesque style, of Cluniac type, with a facade framed by two towers, a central nave with pillars and columns, a transept with a dome at the crossing, an apse flanked by four apsidioles, but disfigured by the transformations of the 18th century.

The Gothic chapel of Nossa Senhora da Gloria was erected by Archbishop G. Pereira (1326-48), who is buried there in a sarcophagus carved by Peri and Telo García. The external portico with arches is due to Archbishop D. de Souza (1505-32). In the sacristy the treasury is one of the richest in Portugal. It contains among other things an ivory coffer, a Moorish work, carved at the time of the caliphate of Cordoba (early 11th century); a silver chalice known as that of St. Gerald; a pastoral staff known as that of the three archbishops (12th century); sculptures in enamelled silver of the 14th century, silver and gold antependia of the 16th century, and very rich sacred vestments.

In the suburb of B. at São Jerónimo Real, the church erected by St. Fructuosus (650-65), dedicated by him to St. Saviour of Montelios, today S. Fruttuoso, is now incorporated into the convent of S. Francesco. From the Cronica da Soledade of Manoel de Monforte it is gathered that the original plan was a Greek cross with a central dome, but it was sacked during the Arab period and rebuilt with heterogeneous material in the 11th century. Six km from B. was the ancient Benedictine monastery of Tibaes with four cloisters and ceramic decoration with the life of St. Benedict, but much transformed in the 17th-18th century.

Enrico Josi

LITURGY

B. has its own particular rite which links back to ancient local uses. In 538 Pope Vigilius, in reply to a letter from Bishop Profuturus, gave disciplinary and liturgical instructions concerning the Mass and certain Sacraments in order to clarify a situation resulting from the Priscillianist struggles. This liturgy is composed of the Roman canon and of formulas either indigenous or drawn from other liturgies.

In the 7th century it disappeared, because the decrees of the Council of Toledo became law for the entire Iberian peninsula; it revived, however, in the 12th century, so that when in 1570 St. Pius V with the bull Quam primum abolished all particular rites, with the exception of those existing for at least two hundred years, the Braga liturgy remained in force. In 1880, in a conflict over the use of the two rites, Roman and Braga, the majority sided with the latter. The synodal constitutions of 29 July 1918 imposed on the whole diocese the liturgical books according to the particular rite. Benedict XV, with the bull Sedis huius of 14 May 1919, approved the new edition of the Braga breviary printed at the Vatican press, and Pius XI on 8 Sept. 1924 approved that of the Missal.

Silverio Mattei