Viseu (Vizeu), Diocese of

VISEU (Vizeu), Diocese of. - In the province of Beira-Alta, in Portugal. It has an area of 3,400 sq km and a population of 300,500 inhabitants, almost all Catholics, distributed in 201 parishes, served by 222 diocesan priests and 8 regulars. It has a major and a minor seminary; one male religious community and 15 female ones (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 449).

The origin of the diocese is unknown. According to the division of bishoprics made at the Council of Lugo (559), the diocese of V. extended over the territory "de Borgia usque Sartam, et de Bonella usque Ventosam". Today it is difficult to identify these names.

The first bishop whose name is remembered is Remissol, who took part in the Second Council of Braga (572). With the occupation of the territory by Leovigild, king of the Visigoths and an Arian, in 585, the Catholic prelates were subjected to harsh persecutions and the Arian bishop Sunila was installed in the Cathedral; he later abjured the heresy at the Third Council of Toledo (589). During the Muslim yoke, mention is made of Theodemiro and other Catholic bishops.

In the middle of the 10th century the diocese found itself transiently in the hands of the Catholic kings, and then various monasteries and churches were restored, especially in the valley of Besteiros. The definitive reconquest, however, was carried out by Ferdinand the Great, between 1057 and 1064. Pope Paschal II, with the bull Apostolicae Sedis of 23 March 1102, entrusted the see to the bishop of Coimbra, Maurice, who governed it by means of a prior. One of these, named Odorio, was acclaimed bishop by the people and the clergy. However, through the intervention of the bishop of Coimbra, he continued as a simple prior until he retired to the monastery of S. Croce di Coimbra.

Given the doubt about the authenticity of the bull attributed to Pope Lucius II, from which the existence of a bishop at V. in 1144 could be inferred, it seems that the diocese was not provided with a bishop before 1147, when the name of Odorio is encountered. Then followed Nicholas, a regular canon (1193), and Martin (1230). After a vacancy of about 20 years, Pietro Gonzalves was confirmed to the chair of V., and he was succeeded by Matthew I, a strenuous defender of the rights of the Church in the struggle against the Crown under the reign of Alfonso II. Among the prelates who subsequently governed the see of V., mention is made of Pedro II and Giovanni IV, involved in the Great Schism, and Luiz do Amaral, a follower of the antipope Felix V but returned to obedience to Rome before his death. In 1446 Giovanni Vicente was elevated to the chair of V., founder of a Congregation of Regular Canons of St. John, known under the name of Loyos, and reformer of the Order of Christ. Diego Ortiz de Villegas (1507-16) displayed vast activity; Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (1547-52), on the other hand, never reached the see. Jorge de Athaide took part in the Council of Trent; Nuno de Noronha built the Seminary. Also to be remembered are Giovanni Manuel (1610), Bernardino de Senna (1629) and, after the vacancy prolonged for 23 years because of disputes with Spain, Giovanni de Mello and Riccardo Russel. In more recent times Antonio Alves Martins firmly opposed the proclamation of the dogma of papal infallibility at the Vatican Council. At V. diocesan synods were held in 1527, 1555, 1614, 1681, 1699, 1745, 1748. The patron is the bishop St. Teotonio.

Monuments. - The most distinguished is the Cathedral, rebuilt in the 12th century on a building of the 9th; between the end of the 13th century and the first half of the 14th the cloister was erected; in 1516 the bishop Diego Ortiz de Villegas inaugurated the new facade; between 1573 and 1578 the sacristy was raised; partial remodellings occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries. Also to be remembered are the church of N. Signora del Carmine (18th century) and S. Michele "do Fetal", the oldest in V., but rebuilt in the 18th century. Of the convents erected in V. between the 15th and 18th centuries, none has survived.

Carmo da Silva

(propr. Enc. Catt.)

VISIGOTHIC, SCRIPT AND MINIATURE - Characteristic letters, ligatures, bonds and notable letters of the Visigothic script: 1. the a, the g and the t; 2. The ligature caput; 3. The double form of d, e, i; the ligatures ti in the hard and sibilant sound; the group tur with the u written above; 4. the a, the r, the m, the o, the t and the t of the uppercase alphabet.