Publication Date
2009
Categories
6th bishop of Cape Verde.
He was the legitimate child of Rui Pereira de Miranda, (gentleman of Carvalhais and Verdemilho, nobleman of Feira and abbot of Pombal) and of D.ª Ana da Cunha; he was born in Quatro Vilas in the bishopric of Coimbra circa 1557; he received holy orders at the age of 30; he was prior of Pombeiro; he was a brother of the Misericórdia of the city of Coimbra. He was a doctor in theology and a graduate in arts from the University of Coimbra. After the renunciation of Sebastião Gomes de Figueiredo, he was presented to Rome in December of 1607 and confirmed on November 10, 1608. However, this prelate, like many others, had to wait more than a year before residing in the diocese, where he arrived in 1609 and was a recipient of the usual increase in salary, plus money for consecration and voyage. We know, however, that the central agencies must have underfunded his retinue, because in Lisbon he contracted a high debt of 10 or 11,000 cruzados with Fernão Jorge, a merchant there. D. Luís Pereira de Miranda arrived in Santiago in 1609 and died in May of 1610, having barely completed a year of residence. The date of his death is uncertain, because it is affirmed in documents that he died one month after reaching Santiago. However the French author Gauchat affirms that he died in May of 1610. From this period, we know of only a single document: his will, in which he left all of his possessions to his son to establish a chapel in the kingdom where masses would be said in honor of his soul. In spite of demanding in the will that his bones be transferred to the kingdom and placed in a chapel that his family possessed at the church of Mouta, in the bishopric of Coimbra, he was buried at the church of Misericórdia in Santiago, a brotherhood to which he also bequeathed 15,000 reis in order to pay debts that his servants had contracted. Equally he left 400 cruzados to the Jesuits from Cape Verde so that they would have in Santiago a privileged and close relationship with the missionaries and not with the diocesan chapter. He demanded from the heirs of his predecessor (Fr. Pedro Brandão) their inherited possessions, because they had been constituted with the earnings from the miter. A favorable ruling was obtained during his bishopric, but he died before it could be enjoyed. The significant pastoral actions of his prelate are not known, given his short episcopate of less than a year.
Bibliography:
Anónimo (1784), Notícia Corográfica e Cronológica do Bispado de Cabo Verde, edição e notas de António Carreira, Lisboa, Instituto Caboverdeano do Livro, 1985. ALMEIDA, Fortunato de, História da Igreja em Portugal, nova ed.preparada e dirigida por Damião Peres, vol. II, Porto-Lisboa, Livraria Civilização, 1968, pp. 685. PAIVA, José Pedro, Os Bispos de Portugal e do Império, 1495-1777, Coimbra, Imprensa da Universidade, 2006. REMA, Henrique Pinto, "Diocese de Cabo Verde", História Religiosa de Portugal, dir. de Carlos Azevedo, Lisboa, Círculo de Leitores, 2001, vol. II, A-C, pp. 280-284. SANTOS, Maria Emília Madeira; SOARES, Maria João, "Igreja, Missionação e Sociedade", História Geral de Cabo Verde, vol. II, coord. de Maria Emília Madeira Santos, Lisboa-Praia, IICT-INCCV, 1995, pp. 392-399. SOUSA, António Caetano de, Catálogo dos bispos das igrejas de Cabo Verde, S. Tomé e Angola in Colleçam dos documentos, estatutos e memórias da Academia real da História Portugueza que neste anno de 1722 se compuzerão e se imprimirão por ordem dos seus censores, Lisboa, Pascoal da Sylva, 1722.
Translated by: John Starkey
He was the legitimate child of Rui Pereira de Miranda, (gentleman of Carvalhais and Verdemilho, nobleman of Feira and abbot of Pombal) and of D.ª Ana da Cunha; he was born in Quatro Vilas in the bishopric of Coimbra circa 1557; he received holy orders at the age of 30; he was prior of Pombeiro; he was a brother of the Misericórdia of the city of Coimbra. He was a doctor in theology and a graduate in arts from the University of Coimbra. After the renunciation of Sebastião Gomes de Figueiredo, he was presented to Rome in December of 1607 and confirmed on November 10, 1608. However, this prelate, like many others, had to wait more than a year before residing in the diocese, where he arrived in 1609 and was a recipient of the usual increase in salary, plus money for consecration and voyage. We know, however, that the central agencies must have underfunded his retinue, because in Lisbon he contracted a high debt of 10 or 11,000 cruzados with Fernão Jorge, a merchant there. D. Luís Pereira de Miranda arrived in Santiago in 1609 and died in May of 1610, having barely completed a year of residence. The date of his death is uncertain, because it is affirmed in documents that he died one month after reaching Santiago. However the French author Gauchat affirms that he died in May of 1610. From this period, we know of only a single document: his will, in which he left all of his possessions to his son to establish a chapel in the kingdom where masses would be said in honor of his soul. In spite of demanding in the will that his bones be transferred to the kingdom and placed in a chapel that his family possessed at the church of Mouta, in the bishopric of Coimbra, he was buried at the church of Misericórdia in Santiago, a brotherhood to which he also bequeathed 15,000 reis in order to pay debts that his servants had contracted. Equally he left 400 cruzados to the Jesuits from Cape Verde so that they would have in Santiago a privileged and close relationship with the missionaries and not with the diocesan chapter. He demanded from the heirs of his predecessor (Fr. Pedro Brandão) their inherited possessions, because they had been constituted with the earnings from the miter. A favorable ruling was obtained during his bishopric, but he died before it could be enjoyed. The significant pastoral actions of his prelate are not known, given his short episcopate of less than a year.
Bibliography:
Anónimo (1784), Notícia Corográfica e Cronológica do Bispado de Cabo Verde, edição e notas de António Carreira, Lisboa, Instituto Caboverdeano do Livro, 1985. ALMEIDA, Fortunato de, História da Igreja em Portugal, nova ed.preparada e dirigida por Damião Peres, vol. II, Porto-Lisboa, Livraria Civilização, 1968, pp. 685. PAIVA, José Pedro, Os Bispos de Portugal e do Império, 1495-1777, Coimbra, Imprensa da Universidade, 2006. REMA, Henrique Pinto, "Diocese de Cabo Verde", História Religiosa de Portugal, dir. de Carlos Azevedo, Lisboa, Círculo de Leitores, 2001, vol. II, A-C, pp. 280-284. SANTOS, Maria Emília Madeira; SOARES, Maria João, "Igreja, Missionação e Sociedade", História Geral de Cabo Verde, vol. II, coord. de Maria Emília Madeira Santos, Lisboa-Praia, IICT-INCCV, 1995, pp. 392-399. SOUSA, António Caetano de, Catálogo dos bispos das igrejas de Cabo Verde, S. Tomé e Angola in Colleçam dos documentos, estatutos e memórias da Academia real da História Portugueza que neste anno de 1722 se compuzerão e se imprimirão por ordem dos seus censores, Lisboa, Pascoal da Sylva, 1722.
Translated by: John Starkey