COIMBRA, DIOCESE OF. — In Portugal, it extends over 5,300 sq. km. and has 571,256 inhabitants, of whom 547,428 are Catholics; it comprises 254 parishes, served by 252 secular priests and 10 regular clergy.
It appears that this important diocese is one of the oldest in Lusitania, though reliable documents on its religious life and especially on its prelates before the 6th century are lacking. All the churches of that region were under the influence of the ancient metropolitan see of Emeritense (Mérida); thus Coimbra in early times must have received its ecclesiastical organization from Mérida.
The first known bishop is Lucentius (Lucezio in some manuscripts), who signed the acts of the Council of Braga in 561 and again in 572 at the second council of the same metropolitan see, from which Coimbra then, as now, depended. The last bishop of Coimbra during the Visigothic period was Emila, who attended the 16th Council of Toledo in 693; after him there was a long interruption in the episcopate owing to the devastating Saracen invasion, which forced the clergy and many of the faithful to take refuge in the northern mountains of the peninsula. A bishop named Naustus is recorded again in the last decades of the 9th century, but neither he nor his successors could enter the diocese until the reconquest of the city and territory of Coimbra (which occurred in 1058, or according to some chroniclers in 1064). A few years later the see was held by the notorious Maurice Bourdin, later archbishop of Braga and finally in 1118 by the antipope Gregory VIII, created by Emperor Henry V. After the death of his successor at Coimbra, the see remained vacant for 31 years. Notable in the 16th century were the Augustinian bishops João Soares (John VII) and Gaspar de Casal, who took part in the Council of Trent, and Manuel de Meneses, who died in the famous battle of Alcácer Quibir (1578) alongside the last king of the dynasty, Sebastian, after whose death Portugal fell under Spanish domination, an event that gave rise to religious diplomatic conflicts until the recognition of the new Portuguese dynasty.
UNIVERSITY OF COIMBRA. — Chronologically, it is the first of the Portuguese universities. Conceived by King Dinis with letters patent of 19 March 1290 (to which high ecclesiastical authorities of the time contributed), the new *Estudo Geral* received academic privileges through the papal bull *De statu regni Portu-galiae* of 9 August 1290, issued by Nicholas IV. It began operations in Lisbon, offering the trivium and quadrivium, canon law, civil law, and medicine, but in 1308 King Dinis transferred it to Coimbra, a location more central and already a notable center of studies organized by ecclesiastical bodies: the new site was quieter and more conducive to intellectual work, besides lacking the student unrest and inevitable excesses of the capital. Ordered back to Lisbon by King Afonso IV, it remained there until 1354, returning to Coimbra until 1377, when the last Lisbon interlude began under King Fernando. This coming and going ceased in 1537, when King João III decreed that the University should have its definitive seat in Coimbra and placed at its disposal his own palaces, to be suitably adapted. Rich in distinguished teachers, many of whom were trained in the most celebrated intellectual centers of Europe, the Studium of Coimbra has always been a luminous center of national culture: its teaching has often extended beyond the national borders, and in turn has frequently been enriched by the learning of foreign scholars, among whom Italians are not lacking.
After the privileges granted in 1309 by King Dinis, the structure of the University of Coimbra took shape along the model of the Studium of Bologna, branching into the four fundamental faculties: Theology, Canon Law, Civil Law, and Medicine.
In its secular life several periods are noteworthy: that marked by the vigorous impulse given to national culture by King João III; the new European orientation imparted by King João V; and the reform carried out by the Marquis of Pombal in the 18th century.
Subsequent reforms, more or less successful, have sought to modernize university teaching in order to adapt it to the new intellectual and social needs of the nation. Of the five faculties existing in the last century at the time of the reforms of Passos Manuel in 1835, the Faculty of Theology was transformed into a Faculty of Letters in 1911, and the Faculty of Philosophy (of Pombaline memory) became a Faculty of Sciences. The other three were Law, Medicine, and Mathematics.
At present the University of Coimbra consists of: 1) a four-year Faculty of Letters, which grants the degree of *licenciado* (required for secondary teaching) and of *doutor*; 2) a Faculty of Law, which grants the degree of *bacharel* to those who complete the four-year course, that of *licenciado* to bachelors who pass the fifth complementary year with a grade of at least 12/20, and that of *doutor*; 3) a Faculty of Medicine, with a six-year course, from which one emerges with the degree of *licenciado* or, after further examinations, that of *doutor*; 4) a Faculty of Sciences, four-year for most students or five-year for geographers; 5) a School of Pharmacy.
All who aspire to an academic career must possess the academic degree of *doutor*, which *licenciados* may obtain after passing various written and oral examinations.
The University of Coimbra still preserves characteristic academic traditions of ancient memory and singular student customs, imbued with the unmistakable Portuguese *saudade*. Today it is undergoing a radical transformation of its buildings; the new *cidade universitária* is in full ferment of activity, modern and austere in its architectural lines, complete and modern in its new installations. — See Pl. CXXV.