PORTALEGRE, DIOCESE of. — The diocese of P. is situated northeast of Lisbon, almost on the frontier with Spain, in Portugal. Its episcopal see is in the city of the same name and it belongs to the ecclesiastical province of Lisbon. It has an area of approximately 9,710 sq. km., with a population of 348,184 inhabitants, of whom 319,080 are Catholics, distributed among 154 parishes, served by 159 diocesan priests; it has 16 communities of women religious (Ann. Pont., 1952, p. 323).
The erection of the diocese of P. was due to the solicitude of Giovanni III, king of Portugal. Indeed, when the episcopal see of Guarda became vacant upon the death of Giorgio di Mello (1519–48), he submitted a petition to the Holy See for the establishment of a new diocese by detaching the region south of the Tagus from the diocese of Guarda and the small town of Arronches from the monastery of S. Croce in Coimbra. Paolo III created the new diocese by the bull Pro excellenti Apostolicae Sedis of 21 Aug. 1549 and left to the two bishops who were to be appointed for that purpose the choice of the Cathedral. Pope Clemente XI, by the bull Gregis dominici cura (3 Jan.
1718), made the bishopric of P. suffragan to the eastern archbishop of Lisbon (v.). Later, when the two dioceses of Lisbon were united by Benedetto XIV in the patriarchate of Lisbon, the diocese of P. remained suffragan to II.