BRAGANCA-MIRANDA
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BRAGANCA-MIRANDA
tinian (1589-1609), who consecrated the cathedral,
28 July, 1592. Alejo de Meneses, also an Augustinian,
was transferred to Braga from the archiepiscopal see
of Goa. He had been an apostle to the Xestoriansof
the Malabar Coast in Farther India and had con-
verted them to Catholicism with the help of mission-
aries of the various religious orders. Under him was
held the Council of Diamper (1599), for the estab-
lishment of the Church on the Malabar Coast. He
died at Madrid in 1617 in his fifty-eighth j'ear in the
odour of sanctity, being then President of the Council
of Castile. Three other bishops of note were Roderico
•de Cunha (1627-35), historian of the Church in
Portugal; Roderico de Moura (1704-28), who re-
stored the cathedral, and Cayetano Brandao, who
T\-as reputed a saint among the faithful.
In its early period the Diocese of Braga produced the famous writer Paul us Orosius (fi.418) also Avitus of Braga. At the beginning of the eighteenth centurj' a contest was waged over the birthplace of Orosius, some claiming him for Braga and others for Tarragona. The Marquis of Mondejar, with all the e\'idence in his favour, supported the claim of Braga; Dalmas, the chronicler of Catalonia, that of Tarra- gona. A\'itus of Braga, another WTiter of some im- portance, was a priest who went to the East to con- sult with St. Augustine at the same time that Orosius, who had been sent by St. AugiLstine, returned from consulting St. Jerome. It was through him that the priest, Lucian of Caphar Gamala near Jerusalem, made known to the West the discovery of the body of St. Stephen (December, 415). The Greek en- cyclical letter of Lucian was translated into Latin by Avitus and sent to Braga with another for the bishop, Balconius, his clergj', and people, together with a relic of St. Stephen. Avitus also attended the Council of Jerusalem against Pelagius (415). There were two others of the same name, men of note, who, however, wTOUght incalculable harm by introducing into these provinces the doctrines of Origen and Yictorinus.
In 1390 Braga was divided to make the Arch- diocese of Lisbon, and in 1540 its territory was again divided to create the Archdiocese of Evora. There are some fine edifices in the diocese, among them the Cathedral of the Assumption, verj' large and archi- tecturally perfect; the archbishop's palace; the semi- narj', and the Institute of Charity. The sanctuarj' of do Senhor Jesus do Monte is the object of great devotion to which many pilgrimages are made every year.
Fl<5rez. Espaila Sagrada (Madrid, 1754—). IV. 234-240; XV. 82-364. and pa.^sim; Aguirre, Collectio maiima con- ciliorum HispanUE (Rome, 1693): Thomas ab Incarnatione, //w(. Ecci. LusUaruE (Coimbra, 1759-63); Tejad.v y Ra.miro, Canones de la Iglcsm de Enpafia (Madrid, 1859); G.\ms, Kircheng. Spaniens (1862-79). For the local historians: Argote, CtTNHA, CoRREA, et al., see Chevalier, Topo-bib. (Paris, 1894-99), 479; ibid., Lisbon and Ermra.
Councils of Brnga. — Many councils were held in this diocese, some of them important. The au- thenticity of the so-called council of 411 is verj' doubtful. It was probably invented by Father Bernardo Brito. In the council of .563 eight bishops took part, and twenty-two decrees were promulgated, among others the following: that in the ser\nces of the church the same rite should be followed by all, and that on vigils and in solemn Masses the same lessons should be said by all ; that bishops and priests ■should salute the people with Dominus mhiscum, as in the Book of Ruth, the response being Et eum spiritu tun, as was the custom in the East, without the alterations introduced by the Pri.scillianists; that Mass shotild be said according to the nrdo sent from Rome to Profuturus; that the form used for baptism in the Metropolitan See of Braga should not be altered; that bishops should take rank after the raetrnpnlitan according to the date of their conse-
cration; that bishops should not ordain candidates
from other dioceses without dimissorial letters from
their bishop; that nothing should be sung in the
church but the Psalms and parts of the Old and
New Testament; that all priests who abstained from
eating meat should be obliged to eat vegetables
cooked in meat, to avoid all suspicion of the taint
of Priscillianism, and that if they refused they should
be excommunicated; that suicides and catechumens
should not be buried -nnth great ceremony, nor
should anyone be buried inside the church; that
priests should be appointed for the blessing of the
chrism.
The second council held in 572. presided over by the aforesaid St. Martin, was held to increase the number of bishops in Galicia. Twelve bishops as- sisted at this council, and ten decrees were pro- mulgated: (1) that the bishops should in their visitations see in what manner the priests celebrated the Holy Sacrifice and administered baptism and the other sacraments, thanking God if they found everj'thing as it should be, and instructing the priests if they were found wanting in knowledge, and obliging all catechumens to attend instructions for twenty days before baptism and to learn the creed; (2) that the bishop must not be tjTannical towards his priests; (3—4) that no fee must be ac- cepted for Holy orders, and the holy chrism must be distributed free; (5-6) that the bishop must not ask a fee for consecrating a church, that no church should be consecrated without the bishop being sure of the endowment and the ministers, and that no church built on private property for the purpose of emolument should receive consecration; (8) that if a cleric should accvise any one of unchastitj' with- out the evidence of two or three witnesses he should be excommunicated; (9) that the metropolitan should announce the date of Easter, and have it made known to the people after Christmas, so that they might be prepared for the beginning of Lent, when litanies were to be recited for three days; on the third day the Lenten fast should be armoimced after the Mass; (10) that any one saying Mass without fasting, as many did, as a result of Priscillianist tendencies, should be deprived of his office. This council was attended by the bishops of the suffragan sees of Braga, and by those of the Diocese of Lugo, and Pope Innocent III removed all doubt as to its authenticity.
The Third Cotmcil of Braga was held in 675, dur- ing the primacy of Leodegisius, and in the reign of King Wamba. Eight decrees were promulgated at this council; (1) that no one should dare to offer in sacrifice milk and grapes, but bread and -nine mixed with a drop of water in a chalice, nor should bread soaked in wine be used; (2) that laymen should be excommunicated, and ecclesiastics deprived of their office, if either put the sacred vessels to profane uses; (4) that no priest should have any woman but his mother in his house; (5-6) that bishops, when carry- ing the relics of martjTs in procession, must walk to the church, and not be carried in a chair, or litter, by deacons clothed in white; that corporal pimishment was not to be inflicted on youthful ecclesiastics, abbots, or priests, except for grievous faults; (7-8) that no fee must be accepted for Holy orders, and that the rectors of the churches must not require the members of their ecclesiastical households to do work on their private farms; if they did so they must recompense the church for the injury done thereby. There were other councils in 1278-80, 1301, 1328, 1436, 1488, 1537, besides various diocesan and provincial synods of lesser importance.
Hefele, Cancilieng. (2d ed.), II, 104, and passim.
TiRso Lopez.
Braganca-Miranda. Dioce.se op (Brigantiensis), is sit\i:iiiil in the north-eastern part of the Kingdom of
