PORTALEGRE, DIOCESE OF
The diocese of Portalegre is situated in northeastern Lisbon, almost on the border with Spain, in Portugal. It has its episcopal see in the city of the same name and belongs to the ecclesiastical province of Lisbon. It covers an area of approximately 9,710 sq. km. with a population of 348,184, of whom 319,080 are Catholics, distributed in 154 parishes, served by 159 diocesan priests; it has 16 female religious communities (Ann. Pont., 1952, p. 323).
The erection of the diocese of Portalegre is due to the zeal of John III, King of Portugal. Indeed, upon the vacancy of the episcopal see of Guarda following the death of Jorge de Melo (1519–48), he petitioned the Holy See to establish a new diocese by separating the region south of the Tagus from the diocese of Guarda and the town of Arronches from the monastery of Santa Cruz in Coimbra. Paul III created the new diocese with the bull *Pro excellenti Apostolicae Sedis* of 21 August 1549, and left the choice of the cathedral to the two bishops who were to be appointed for this purpose. Pope Clement XI, with the bull *Gregis dominici cura* (3 January 1718), made the see of Portalegre a suffragan of the Archbishop of Lisbon (q.v.). Later, when the two dioceses of Lisbon were united by Benedict XIV into the Patriarchate of Lisbon, the diocese of Portalegre remained a suffragan of this patriarchate.
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Carme da Silva
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PORTO ALEGRE, ARCHDIOCESE OF (Porto alle Gre), in Brazil
An archdiocese and capital city in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It covers an area of 44,620 sq. km. with a population of 1,358,000, of whom 1,188,000 are Catholics. It comprises 137 parishes served by 184 diocesan priests and 253 regular clergy, 2 seminaries; it has 88 male and 253 female religious communities (Ann. Pont., 1952, p. 323).
The city was founded in the mid-18th century by settlers from Viamão who established a port called Porto dos Casais; in 1773 the name was changed to the present one. The diocese was created by Pope Pius IX with the bull *Ad oves dominicas* of 7 May 1848, carved out of the diocese of São Sebastião of Rio de Janeiro, under the title of São Pedro do Rio Grande do Sul. The first bishop was Msgr. F. J. Rodrigues Prates (1848–58). Pope Pius X, with the bull *Praedecessorum* of 15 August 1910, carved three new dioceses—Pelotas, Uruguaiana, and Santa Maria—out of this diocese and raised São Pedro do Rio Grande do Sul to metropolitan status, changing its name to Porto Alegre. At present the archdiocese of Porto Alegre has as its suffragans the dioceses of Caxias, Pelotas, Santa Maria, Uruguaiana, and the prelature *nullius* of Vacaria. The cathedral is dedicated to Nossa Senhora Mãe de Deus; other churches include those of Nossa Senhora das Dores and São José, served by the Jesuits, the Congregation of the Rosary, etc.
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Cultural Institutions
In Porto Alegre the major Catholic cultural institutions are three.
1. **Central Seminary.** – The metropolitan (or provincial) major seminary and the diocesan minor seminary were transferred in 1913 to São Leopoldo, into the Jesuit building erected in 1873 and renovated in 1900, which until then had functioned as the “Colégio da Imaculada Conceição” (a name later given to the major seminary). In 1923 the major seminary took over the nearby St. Joseph’s College run by the Franciscan Sisters, who moved elsewhere and ceded the building to the Jesuits. In 1938 the minor seminary (St. Joseph) moved to a new diocesan seat in Gravataí, and the vacated building was adapted to house the philosophical section of the major seminary, which had been declared “central” in 1934. For this flourishing institute, which in 1951 had 184 philosophy and 127 theology students (over 300 pupils in total), a grand new seat is under advanced construction at Viamão.
2. **Major College of the Jesuits.** – For the students of the Society of Jesus (Major College for the southern Brazilian religious province), who had shared quarters with the seminarians since 1925, a new Major College of Christ the King was inaugurated in São Leopoldo in 1942; since 1945 it has housed faculties of theology and philosophy, confirmed by the Holy See in 1949.
3. **Catholic University.** – With its seat in Porto Alegre (*Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul*), it owes its existence to the Marist Brothers, who settled there in 1900. Its origins date to 1927 with the foundation of a higher institute of commerce attached to the Colégio Nossa Senhora do Rosário; the federal law of 11 April 1931 (dec. 19.851) on higher-education reform favored its organization and development. After various legal authorizations and final approval by the federal government on 9 November 1948 (dec. 25.794), canonical erection followed, together with the conferral of the title “pontifical” on 1 November 1950 (dec. *Tot inter*, in AAS, 43 [1951], p. 495).
It comprises three faculties: philosophy (with sciences and letters), law, and political and economic sciences; it has the “aggregated” School of Social Service. As the third Catholic university in Brazil, after those of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, it is gaining a solid reputation for academic rigor. Its Grand Chancellor is the Archbishop of Porto Alegre, who also serves as president of the episcopal commission reorganized for the university’s interests.
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