BRAGA, DIOCESI DI

Diocese of BRAGA

In northern Portugal, Braga is the chief town of a department in the province of Minho. Conquered by the Romans and known as 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 mid-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 Braga named Paterno occurs at the Second Council of Toledo in 400. Subsequent bishops include Balconio (415–17), Profuturo, to whom Pope Vigilius sent a letter in 538, St. Martin (569–79), St. Frutuoso (656–65), Peter (1071–91), and St. Gerard (1095–1108). The complete list continues, notably with Peter of Giuliano (1273), who later became Pope John XXI (v.).

The diocese covers an area of 4,831 km², with a population of 807,540, of whom 807,150 are Catholic. It comprises 830 parishes served by 850 diocesan priests and 135 religious. Four provincial councils were held in Braga in 1148, 1292, 1426, and 1566. It has a diocesan seminary founded in 1571 and a minor seminary since 1881. Since the time of Paschal II (1099–1118), Braga has been a metropolitan see. Its suffragan dioceses are Aveiro, Bragança, Coimbra, Lamego, Porto, Vila Real, and Viseu.

The present metropolitan cathedral stands on the site of the original structure, destroyed by the Arabs; it was completed in the 12th century in a Cluniac Romanesque style, with a façade framed by two towers, a central nave with pillars and columns, a transept with a crossing dome, and an apse flanked by four smaller apses, though much altered by 18th-century transformations.

The Gothic chapel of Nossa Senhora da Glória, erected by Archbishop G. Pereira (1326–48), who is buried there in a sculpted sarcophagus by Peri and Telo García, features an external arched portico added by Archbishop D. de Souza (1505–32). The sacristy houses one of Portugal’s richest treasuries, including an ivory casket of Moorish workmanship from the early 11th century (Caliphate of Córdoba), a silver chalice known as that of St. Gerard, a pastoral staff attributed to three archbishops (12th century), 14th-century silver and enamel sculptures, 16th-century silver and gold antependia, and sumptuous liturgical vestments.

In the suburb of São Jerónimo Real, the church founded by St. Frutuoso (650–65) and dedicated to St. Salvador de Montelios (now St. Frutuoso) is incorporated into the convent of St. Francis. According to the *Crónica da Sidedade* by Manoel de Monforte, its original plan was a Greek cross with a central dome, though it was sacked during the Arab period and rebuilt with heterogeneous materials in the 11th century. Six kilometers from Braga stood the ancient Benedictine monastery of Tibães, with four cloisters and ceramic decorations depicting the life of St. Benedict, though much altered in the 17th–18th centuries.

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### Liturgy

Braga has its own particular rite, rooted in ancient local customs. In 538, Pope Vigilius, in response to a letter from Bishop Profuturo, issued disciplinary and liturgical instructions concerning the Mass and certain Sacraments to clarify a situation arising from Priscillianist controversies. This liturgy combines the Roman Canon with indigenous formulas or elements drawn from other liturgical traditions.

The rite disappeared in the 7th century when the decrees of the Council of Toledo became law across the Iberian Peninsula, but it resurfaced in the 12th century. Thus, when St. Pius V abolished all particular rites with the bull *Quare primum* in 1570—excepting those in continuous use for at least two centuries—the Braga rite remained in force. In 1880, a dispute over the use of the Roman and Braga rites resulted in a majority favoring the latter. The synodal constitutions of 29 July 1918 imposed the liturgical books of the particular rite throughout the diocese. Benedict XV, with the bull *Sedis huius* of 14 May 1919, approved the new edition of the *Breviarium Bracarense* printed in the Vatican press, and Pius XI, on 8 September 1924, approved that of the *Missale*.

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