Lisbon Patriarch is the honorary head of the Roman Catholic Patriarchate of Lisbon. Patriarch is derived from a Greek word patriarch, which means a leader, chief or a ruler. Patriarch is a person who exercises autocratic authority over an extended family. With the passage of time the word Patriarch is used with ecclesiastical connotations. The highest ranking bishops, of the Roman Catholic Church are known as patriarchs. Patriarchate is used to denote the office or the ecclesiastical province of a patriarch.
The Patriarchate of Lisbon is one of the western patriarchates under the Roman Catholic Church and includes the districts of Lisbon and Santarem. Lisbon was originally known as Olissipo. After the Romans, the Moors conquered Lisbon in 716. In an attempt to save their 'Holy Land' from the hand of the invaders, Alfonso Henriques along with an army of Crusaders, consisting of the Normans, English and Flemings drove the invaders out of Lisbon and reaffirmed Christianity in the capital city. Gilbert, and English monk who all along accompanied the expedition, was elected as the first Bishop or the Patriarch of Lisbon.
Scalabis is the capital of the district of Santarem. Scalabis was the 'Praesidium Julium of the Romans, situated along the banks of Tagus River. The district of Santarem is
named after St Irene who was the niece of the Benedictine monastery when the Goths ruled this particular region of Portugal.
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Lisbon Patriarchs are honorary titles conferred on the Bishops and Archbishops, without any kind of power attached to it. Some of the patriarchs of Lisbon are :
- 1871-1883 -Inacio do Nascimento Cardinal de Morias Cardoso
- 1883-1907 - Jose (III) Sebastiao Cardinal D Almeida Neto
- 1907-1929 - Antonio (I) Cardinal Mendes Belo
- 1929-1971- Manuel (II) Cardinal Goncalves Cerejeira
- 1971-1998 - Antonio (II) Cardinal Ribiero (1971-1998)
- 1998 - Present - Jose (IV) Cadinal da Crus Policarpo
Jose (IV) Cadinal da Crus Policarpo is the present Patriarch of Lisbon, under the Roman Catholic Church. On August 15, 1961 he was ordained as a priest and is a doctorate of Gregorian University in Rome in Theology. On May 26 he was appointed as the Auxiliary Bishop of Lisbon. He succeeded Antonio Cardinal Rebeiro as a Lisbon Patriarch on March 24, 1999.
As eminent religious figures, Lisbon Patriarchs exercised substantial influence on the social and political scenario of ancient Lisbon. Over the years, powers of the Patriarch have been reduced and in contemporary Lisbon it is an honorary title conferred upon eminent ecclesiastical dignitaries like the Bishops and the Archbishops by the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.
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