Roman Catholic Diocese of Funchal


The Diocese of Funchal was created originally on 12 June1514, by bull Pro excellenti præeminentia of Pope Leo X, following the elevation of Funchal from a village to the status of city, by King Manuel I of Portugal. The new diocese was a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Lisbon.
Before the issuance of the papal bull, between 1433 and 1514 the civil and religious administrations were in charge of the Grand-Master of the Order of Christ. In fact all Portuguese Atlantic territories were under the jurisdiction of Order of Christ, until the situation changed in 1514 with the creation of the Diocese.
Once the Diocese was created, the bishop of Funchal had jurisdiction over the entire area occupied by the Portuguese in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Thus, the Diocese comprised not only the Islands of Madeira, but all the territories discovered or to be discovered by the Portuguese. Thus, its jurisdiction extended throughout the western and eastern African territory, Brazil and Asia. Given its jurisdiction extent, the diocese's first bishop, D. Diogo Pinheiro used the title of Primate.
Nineteen years later, on 31 January 1533, the Diocese was elevated to Archiepiscopal rank. For twenty-two years it was, geographically, the largest metropolitan ecclesiastical province in the world, having as suffragan dioceses: Azores, Brazil, Africa and Goa. The first Archbishop was D. Martinho of Portugal, also held the title of Primate.
Following the Portuguese Empire's economic and social progress new dioceses were created in 1534, whose areas were detached from the Diocese of Funchal: Goa, Angra, Santiago and São Tome, São Salvador da Bahia. Later, on January 31, 1533, the Diocese of Funchal was elevated to the category of metropolitan and primate. In 1551 Pope Julius III revoked the situation by passing Funchal to the simple suffrage bishopric of the Archdiocese of Lisbon, as it remains today.
The first bishop to visit the diocese was D. Ambrósio Brandão, in 1538, on behalf of the diocesan bishop D. Martinho of Portugal. After the death of D. Martinho de Portugal, the only archbishop of Funchal, the cathedral remained vacant until 1551. One year later, in 1552, Fr. Gaspar do Casal, who did not reside on the island, was appointed, and the most salient fact of his action was his participation in the Council of Trent. His successors, D. Jorge de Lemos, D. Jerónimo Barreto and D. Luís Figueiredo de Lemos, applied the Council and were the true workers of this reform.
The first bishop of Funchal to actually reside, full-time, after his appointment was D. Jorge de Lemos, in 1558.
Throughout its more than five centuries of history the diocese has only be headed by two Madeirans so far: D. Aires de Ornelas e Vasconcelos, who would then become Archbishop of Goa, and D. Teodoro de Faria.
Until the 20th century, the bishops of Funchal used the title of Bishop of Madeira, of Porto Santo, of Desertas and of Arguim. The seat of the Diocese of Funchal is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption.
On 8 March 2007, Pope Benedict XVI appointed António Carrilho as Bishop of Funchal, until then Auxiliary Bishop of Porto. Together with Cardinal Fernando Filoni, António III, presided over the celebrations for the 500th anniversary of the foundation of the diocese on 17 May 2014.
The current Bishop of Funchal is Nuno I, who took office on February 17, 2019.

Choice of Patron Saint

was chosen as Patron Saint of the Diocese time when Funchal faced various periods of plague in the 16th century.
In 1521, a severe plague spread throughout the city. Although local authorities, at the time, had sought to isolate the sick in order to control the plague outbreak, the efforts made seemed to be vain.
Gaspar Frutuoso, in his book Saudades da Terra accounts that "the city's Chapter and Senate resolved to choose by random ballot a patron saint among the Apostles... After having prayed before God, a boy named John picked a note, where the name of James Minor was written, and they soon rejoiced all over the city."
Two years later, the civil authorities and the Dean of the Chapter met again in Funchal's Cathedral and confirmed the choice made of St. James Minor as their patron, with the commitment to celebrate him every year in his chapel with mass and procession in the Cathedral first day of May.

Schools

The diocese directly runs one higher education institution, one theological school and several other schools on the Autonomous Region of Madeira.

Municipality of Funchal

Higher Education

Schools and High Schools

Sacred Art Museum of Funchal

The Sacred Art Museum of Funchal, run by the diocese is housed in the former Episcopal Palace, founded by D. Luís Figueiredo de Lemos in 1594. The building was designed by Jerónimo Jorge, Master of Royal Works, who worked in the conception and design of defenses of the city of Funchal. From the primitive building, a section still survives, on the current square of the Municipality and Rua do Bispo. Mannerist sobriety is clearly visible in the northern arch or in the Chapel of Saint Louis of Toulosa, which has an inscription on the façade with the name of its founder, D. Luís de Figueiredo Lemos and dated 1600. D. António Teles da Silva, Bishop of Funchal, carried out new improvement works, between 1675-1682.
With the visit of the Ajuda Palace's Curator Manuel Cayola Zagallo, the diocese became more and more aware of the importance of the Flemish Art collection it owned and that was spread throughout the churches and chapels of its territory. With the unequivocal support from the diocese and the public entities of the time, the identified works were sent to be restore in Lisbon.
After important conservation and restoration work by Fernando Mardel, the paintings were exhibited in Lisbon at the National Museum of Ancient Art in 1949. They would later integrate the Funchal Museum of Sacred Art, inaugurated in 1955. To this set were added other works, especially of Goldsmithing, Ecclesiastic Garments and Sculpture, mostly from Portuguese workshops, which were, in many cases out of worship and in poor condition, in many churches of the diocese, and which became part of the Museum's collections. The Museum's collection include works attributed to painter such as Gerard David, Dieric Bouts, Joos Van Cleve, Jan Provoost and Pieter de Coeck Van Aelst.

Madeira Organ Festival

Together with the Regional Government of Madeira the diocese promotes, by allowing its churches to act as concert venues, for the island's Organ Festival. This festival is usually organized in a set of twelve concerts, headlined by nationally and internationally renowned Master Organ players.

Media

The diocese of Funchal runs a radio station, that broadcasts the news from Rádio Renascença, and an online newspaper.

List of Bishops of Funchal

Bishpos do Funchal

Archbishop of Funchal

Bishops of Funchal

Other affiliated bishops

Coadjutor bishop

On March 23, 2019, the Diocese announced through its Facebook page and on a historical note on its website its coat of arms. The arms were designed by Miguel Pinto-Correia following the economist's open letter to the Bishop published in the regional newspaper, suggesting that the Diocese should adopt a coat of arms on 600th anniversary of the discovery of Madeira.