PORTO (OPORTO), DIOCESE OF. - The diocese of P., or O., is situated in the northwest of Portugal, between the dioceses of Braga, Vila Real, Lamego, Viseu and Aveiro. It has its episcopal see in the city of the same name, the second in Portugal after Lisbon. It has an area of 2,130 sq km, with a population of 1,194,000 inhabitants, of whom 1,120,000 are Catholics, distributed in 457 parishes, with 623 diocesan priests and 150 regulars; it has 19 male religious communities and 35 female ones (Ann. Pont., 1952, p. 324).
Perhaps the origins of the diocese of O. are to be sought in the 6th century, immediately after the conversion of the Suevi. The most ancient bishop of whom there is any memory is Viator, who signed the acts of the Second Council of Braga (572), with the title of bishop of Magneto (Meinedo), one of the churches of the diocese where the cathedral was probably located at the beginning. The names of the various bishops of the Visigothic period are also remembered. It seems that after the Arab invasion the bishops were merely titular, perhaps with the exception of Gomado, elected when Alfonso III took the city in 872.
The diocese was created by Pope Paschal II as a suffragan of Braga in 1114, the year in which Bishop Hugh was installed. Once he found himself at the head of the diocese, the latter sought to enlarge it through frequent struggles over boundaries, with the archbishop of Braga and with the bishop of Coimbra. He also obtained exemption from metropolitan jurisdiction from Paschal II by the rescript of 15 Aug. 1115, having from then on to submit directly to the Pope or to his legate a latere.
During Hugh's government the bishopric was also enriched by various donations, among which famous is that made by Queen Teresa of the burgo of P., with all jurisdictions, revenues and rights. The same Queen also donated the monasteries of Bouças and S. Marinha de Crestuma and the church of Regua. Unfortunately these donations gave occasion for no small number of struggles between bishop and Chapter on one side and King and Commune on the other. John I, king of Portugal, in agreement with Bishop Gil Alma, took the first steps to settle all the questions hitherto pending. In Feb. 1405 they signed an agreement according to which the king, in exchange for the lordship of the «burgo», would give three thousand pounds annually. Innocent VII, by the bull Solet pia Mater (1 Oct. 1405), instructed the archbishop of Lisbon to suspend all excommunications in case the agreement should be useful to the Church. The definitive agreement was signed, a year later, by the King, the Queen and the heir Duarte for the civil power and by the bishop, the dean and the Chapter for the ecclesiastical power, the clause of the three thousand pounds annually owed by the King remaining firm. In the time of Dom Manuel the sum was reduced to 120 silver marks. From 1639 until 1671 the diocese remained vacant because the Holy See could not recognize the bishops presented by John IV. Finally the dispute was settled after the peace with Spain, for the presentation and confirmation of Dom Nicola Monteiro (1671-72). Joseph I, king of Portugal, obtained from Clement XIV (10 July 1770) the dismemberment of the diocese with the creation of the new diocese of Penafiel, which was suppressed by Pius VI in 1778.
The diocese is also one of the most celebrated in Portugal for its religious monuments, among which are the Cathedral, in fine Romanesque style of the 12th century, the church of St. Francis, Gothic of the 14th, and the church of the Clerics, Baroque of the 18th.
Bibliography4 works
Carmo da Silva