Territory Azores Denomination Roman Catholic Established 5 November 1534 Country Portugal Metropolitan archbishop Manuel Clemente | Parishes 164 Rite Roman rite Area 2,243 km² Ecclesiastical province Patriarchate of Lisbon | |
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Population
- Total
- Catholics (as of 2012)
246,746
236,746 (95.9%) Bishop João Evangelista Pimentel Lavrador Cathedral Cathedral of Angra do Heroísmo | ||
The Roman Catholic diocese of Angra (Portuguese: Diocese de Angra, Latin: Dioecesis Angrensis) is a Roman Catholic diocese comprising the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. The see is located in Angra do Heroísmo, in the Terceira island. The current bishop is João Lavrador, who succeeded António de Sousa Braga in 2016.
Contents
History
The Azores, like all the islands and lands discovered during the Portuguese Age of Discoveries, began as jurisdictions of the Order of Christ, under the direction of the vicar of Tomar (Latin: vicarius nullius).
Upon the creation of the Bishopric of Funchal, in 1514, the communities of the Azores began to fall within the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Funchal. As the result of a petition by King John III of Portugal, Pope Clement VII created the Bishopric of São Miguel (São Salvador), but this patriarch died (31 January 1533) before a Papal bull was issued. The request to Clement VII included the creation of two new Dioceses, one for the islands of the Azores and the other for the settlements established along the coast of Western African (or its frontiers).
A papal bull entitled Æquum reputamus, was issued by Pope Paul III on 3 November 1534, that reorganized the religious jurisdiction of the nascent Empire of Portugal in the lines of the original petition (retroactively to the original Clement VII bull): based on John III's petition and creating the Diœcesis Angrensis for the Azores. The bull was part of a group of decrees and concessions to the Portuguese clergy, beginning with the bull Dum diversas on 18 June 1452.
The following year, Pope Paul III elevated the Bishopric of São Salvador, reclassified the Church of São Salvador as a Cathedral and placed it under the suffragan of the Archbishop of Funchal. In 1550, the Diocese was transferred to the suffragan of the metropole of Lisbon. It was vacant from 1637 to 1671.
Bishops of Angra
Since its creation, the Diocese of Angra has been governed by the following bishops:
Diocese
The episcopal see remains a suffragan of the patriarch of Lisbon, Cardinal Manuel Clemente, and serves the entirety of the archipelago of the Azores.