Évora, Archdiocese of (EVORA, ARCIDIOCESI DI) - Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. V, p. 563

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

EVORA, ARCHDIOCESE of. — City of Portugal, capital of the province of Alemtejo, with 22,000 inhabitants. E. is the ancient Ebora Cerealis, reduced by Julius Caesar to a Roman municipium under the name of Liberalitas Iulia. One of the oldest bishoprics of the Iberian Peninsula, according to legend its first pastor was the Roman a. Mancio, sent to Spain by the Apostles themselves; it certainly existed as a diocese from the Visigothic-Christian period (4th century), and its bishop Quinziano took part in the Council of Elvira.

consideration. Likewise, the anthropological theory of the three stages in the evolution of man, namely from anthropos to neandertalensis and sapiens, has been strongly shaken by the discoveries of homo sapiens from the Lower to Middle Pleistocene, remains originating particularly from excavations carried out during the last fifteen years. Indeed, it appears to have been completely called into question if, as seems highly plausible, the “historical” explanation, proposed by A. Portmann and others, of the variations in the form of primitive man represents an essentially accurate interpretation.

BIBL.: Essentially: W. Koppers, Der Urmensch und sein Weltbild, Vienna 1949. Cf. also: Fr. Gröbner, Die Methode der Ethnologie, Heidelberg 1911; J. Feldmann, Paradies und Sündenfall, Münster in West. 1913; W. Schmidt-W. Koppers, Völker und Kulturen, Ratsbona 1924; J. de Vuiperna, Le Paradis terrestre au troisième ciel, Friburg 1925; W. Schmidt, Der Ursprung der Gottesidee, Münster in West. 1926 ff.; id., Handbuch der vergleichenden Religionsgeschichte, ibid. 1930; F. Hellmich, Ursprüngliche Theorien in der Antike, in Mitteilungen der anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien, 40 (1931), pp. 29–73; V. Lebacher, Rassengeschichte der Menschheit, Salzburg 1932; H. Bauman, Schöpfung und Urzeit des Menschen im Mythos der afrikanischen Völker, Berlin 1936; W. Schmidt, Handbuch der kulturhistorischen Methode der Ethnologie, with additions by W. Koppers, Münster in West. 1937; Italian translation by L. Vannicelli, Manuale di metodologia etnologica, Milan 1949, pp. 257–81; W. Koppers, Bhagwan, the supreme deity of the Bhls, in Anthropos, 35–36 (1940–41), pp. 264–315; C. Kraft, Der Urmensch als Schöpfer. Die geistige Welt des Eiszeitmenschen, Berlin 1942; A. Portmann, Biologische Fragmente zu einer Lehre von Menschen, Basel 1944; Revue philosophique, 1947, pp. 257–81 (carnets Levy-Bruhl); A. Portmann, Das Ursprungsproblem, in Ermon-Tahrbuch, 1948, pp. 13–40; id., Probleme des Lebens, Basel 1949; H. V. Vallois, The Fantechervade Fossil Men, in American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 5 (1940), pp. 339–60. Wilhelm Koppers

The diocese was raised to an ecclesiastical metropolitan see on

24 September 1540, and its first archbishop was Cardinal Enrico, who later became king of Portugal (Enrico I), and to whom the foundation of the University is also owed; it was subsequently abolished by the Marquis of Pombal, at the time of the expulsion of the Jesuits from the kingdom. The archdiocese, of which the dioceses of Beja and Faro are suffragans, has over 200,000 faithful, distributed among 176 parishes.

Among its monuments, besides the remains of the ancient aqueduct known as “of Sertorio” and the Temple of Diana, the Cathedral, a Romanesque construction of the 12th century, with a façade adorned with two towers bearing pinnacles, and the church of S. Francesco, from the 14th century, should be mentioned.

BIBL.: F. De Fonseca, E. gloriosa, Rome 1728; Leite de Vasconcellos, E., in O Arch. portug., 4 (1908); C. David, E., Oporto 1930. Mariano Baffi