Manuel Gonçalves Cerejeira
Encyclopedia
Dom
Manuel II Gonçalves Cerejeira, GCC
(29 November 1888, Lousado, Vila Nova de Famalicão
, Portugal
– 2 August 1977, Buraca, Amadora
, Portugal) was a Portuguese
cardinal
, who served as cardinal-patriarch of Lisbon
, from 1929 to 1971. He was the last surviving cardinal elevated by Pope Pius XI
, and his cardinalate of almost forty-eight years is the longest since the fifty-eight year cardinalate of Henry Benedict Mary Clement Stuart of York from 1747 to 1805. He took part in three conclave
s, in 1939, 1958 and 1963. Although there were seven other cardinals elevated by Pius XI who participated in the 1963 conclave, Cerejeira was the longest-serving living cardinal from the death of Jozef-Ernest van Roey
on 6 August 1961 until his own death almost exactly sixteen years later.
, Lousado, 14 April 1857 – Vila Nova de Famalicão
, Lousado, 13 June 1927), a merchant
who lived at the Lugar da Serra, in Lousado, Vila Nova de Famalicão
, and wife (m. Vila Nova de Famalicão
, Lousado, 25 January 1888) Joaquina Gonçalves Rebelo (Fafe, (São Bartolomeu de) Vila Cova, 30 May 1864 – Vila Nova de Famalicão
, 30 September 1918), who resided since childhood at the Parish of Lousado and when she married was a country woman, that is, a peasant
woman. His younger brothers were Júlio (b. Vila Nova de Famalicão
, Lousado, 14 September 1901), a medical doctor, who married in Lisbon
on 12 July 1933 Celeste Maria Barradas da Silva Fiadeiro (Évora
, 12 July 1903 – Porto
, 3 October 1966) and had issue, Joaquim, a lawyer
, António, an university
employee, married to Mina ... and had female issue, and his younger sisters included a religious woman
and Carolina.
in Braga
from a young age and became a priest
in 1911. Following his ordination, he became a faculty member of the University of Coimbra, during which time he became a respected and revered intellectual and religious figure. He also met António de Oliveira Salazar
and the two later became leading figures in the Centro Académico de Democracia Cristã, who supported the Catholic Church social doctrine.
, who had seen through anti-Church hostility in Portugal over his twenty-year reign to a military coup that promised to - and eventually did - temporarily end this hostility. Cerejeira was appointed cardinal a month after his appointment as Patriarch. In being so elevated, he became the youngest cardinal since Rafael Merry del Val in 1903; and there have been no younger cardinals since. The closest approach has proven to be his successor as Patriarch of Lisbon, António Ribeiro
, who was made a cardinal in 1973 three months before his forty-fifth birthday.
During his extraordinarily long career as Portugal's leading Catholic churchman, Cerejeira became often associated with the authoritarian right-wing Estado Novo. This was the result of his friendship with Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar
(a former university colleague of his at Coimbra
) and his endorsement of many of the Estado Novos policies. He signed the Concordat of 1940
, between Portugal and the Catholic Church. However, even though a conservative, he accepted the Vatican Council II reforms rather more readily than did Salazar.
Don (honorific)
Don, from Latin dominus, is an honorific in Spanish , Portuguese , and Italian . The female equivalent is Doña , Dona , and Donna , abbreviated "Dª" or simply "D."-Usage:...
Manuel II Gonçalves Cerejeira, GCC
Order of Christ (Portugal)
The Military Order of Christ previously the Royal Order of the Knights of Our Lord Jesus Christ was the heritage of the Knights Templar in Portugal, after the suppression of the Templars in 1312...
(29 November 1888, Lousado, Vila Nova de Famalicão
Vila Nova de Famalicão
Vila Nova de Famalicão is a municipality in the district of Braga, in the north of Portugal. It is composed of 49 parishes.The municipality has a population of 131,690 inhabitants and a total area of 201.7....
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
– 2 August 1977, Buraca, Amadora
Amadora
Amadora is a city and a municipality in Portugal, in the northwest of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. The city and municipality population is 175,872 in eleven freguesias . With an area of 23.77 km², it is the most densely populated municipality of Portugal...
, Portugal) was a Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
, who served as cardinal-patriarch of Lisbon
Patriarch of Lisbon
The Patriarch of Lisbon is an honorary title possessed by the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Lisbon.The first patriarch of Lisbon was D. Tomás de Almeida, who was appointed in 1716 by Pope Clement XI...
, from 1929 to 1971. He was the last surviving cardinal elevated by Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...
, and his cardinalate of almost forty-eight years is the longest since the fifty-eight year cardinalate of Henry Benedict Mary Clement Stuart of York from 1747 to 1805. He took part in three conclave
Papal conclave
A papal conclave is a meeting of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a Bishop of Rome, who then becomes the Pope during a period of vacancy in the papal office. The Pope is considered by Roman Catholics to be the apostolic successor of Saint Peter and earthly head of the Roman Catholic Church...
s, in 1939, 1958 and 1963. Although there were seven other cardinals elevated by Pius XI who participated in the 1963 conclave, Cerejeira was the longest-serving living cardinal from the death of Jozef-Ernest van Roey
Jozef-Ernest van Roey
Jozef-Ernest van Roey was a Belgian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Mechelen from 1926 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1927.-Biography:...
on 6 August 1961 until his own death almost exactly sixteen years later.
Family
The eldest of three sons and four daughters of Avelino Gonçalves Cerejeira (Vila Nova de FamalicãoVila Nova de Famalicão
Vila Nova de Famalicão is a municipality in the district of Braga, in the north of Portugal. It is composed of 49 parishes.The municipality has a population of 131,690 inhabitants and a total area of 201.7....
, Lousado, 14 April 1857 – Vila Nova de Famalicão
Vila Nova de Famalicão
Vila Nova de Famalicão is a municipality in the district of Braga, in the north of Portugal. It is composed of 49 parishes.The municipality has a population of 131,690 inhabitants and a total area of 201.7....
, Lousado, 13 June 1927), a merchant
Merchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
who lived at the Lugar da Serra, in Lousado, Vila Nova de Famalicão
Vila Nova de Famalicão
Vila Nova de Famalicão is a municipality in the district of Braga, in the north of Portugal. It is composed of 49 parishes.The municipality has a population of 131,690 inhabitants and a total area of 201.7....
, and wife (m. Vila Nova de Famalicão
Vila Nova de Famalicão
Vila Nova de Famalicão is a municipality in the district of Braga, in the north of Portugal. It is composed of 49 parishes.The municipality has a population of 131,690 inhabitants and a total area of 201.7....
, Lousado, 25 January 1888) Joaquina Gonçalves Rebelo (Fafe, (São Bartolomeu de) Vila Cova, 30 May 1864 – Vila Nova de Famalicão
Vila Nova de Famalicão
Vila Nova de Famalicão is a municipality in the district of Braga, in the north of Portugal. It is composed of 49 parishes.The municipality has a population of 131,690 inhabitants and a total area of 201.7....
, 30 September 1918), who resided since childhood at the Parish of Lousado and when she married was a country woman, that is, a peasant
Peasant
A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...
woman. His younger brothers were Júlio (b. Vila Nova de Famalicão
Vila Nova de Famalicão
Vila Nova de Famalicão is a municipality in the district of Braga, in the north of Portugal. It is composed of 49 parishes.The municipality has a population of 131,690 inhabitants and a total area of 201.7....
, Lousado, 14 September 1901), a medical doctor, who married in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
on 12 July 1933 Celeste Maria Barradas da Silva Fiadeiro (Évora
Évora
Évora is a municipality in Portugal. It has total area of with a population of 55,619 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Évora District and capital of the Alentejo region. The municipality is composed of 19 civil parishes, and is located in Évora District....
, 12 July 1903 – Porto
Porto
Porto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...
, 3 October 1966) and had issue, Joaquim, a lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, António, an university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
employee, married to Mina ... and had female issue, and his younger sisters included a religious woman
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
and Carolina.
Early life
He was educated at the seminarySeminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
in Braga
Braga
Braga , a city in the Braga Municipality in northwestern Portugal, is the capital of the Braga District, the oldest archdiocese and the third major city of the country. Braga is the oldest Portuguese city and one of the oldest Christian cities in the World...
from a young age and became a priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
in 1911. Following his ordination, he became a faculty member of the University of Coimbra, during which time he became a respected and revered intellectual and religious figure. He also met António de Oliveira Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar, GColIH, GCTE, GCSE served as the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1932 to 1968. He also served as acting President of the Republic briefly in 1951. He founded and led the Estado Novo , the authoritarian, right-wing government that presided over and controlled Portugal...
and the two later became leading figures in the Centro Académico de Democracia Cristã, who supported the Catholic Church social doctrine.
Career
In 1928 Cerejeria became a bishop and was elevated to the patriarchate of Lisbon the following year at the age of forty-one, replacing António Mendes BeloAntónio Mendes Belo
Dom António I Mendes Belo was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Patriarch of Lisbon.António Mendes Belo was born at São Pedro, Gouveia, , Portugal, son of Miguel Mendes Belo and wife Rosalina dos Santos de Almeida da Mota...
, who had seen through anti-Church hostility in Portugal over his twenty-year reign to a military coup that promised to - and eventually did - temporarily end this hostility. Cerejeira was appointed cardinal a month after his appointment as Patriarch. In being so elevated, he became the youngest cardinal since Rafael Merry del Val in 1903; and there have been no younger cardinals since. The closest approach has proven to be his successor as Patriarch of Lisbon, António Ribeiro
António Ribeiro
Dom António II Ribeiro was a Portuguese Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, who was Patriarch of Lisbon from 1971 until his death in 1998....
, who was made a cardinal in 1973 three months before his forty-fifth birthday.
During his extraordinarily long career as Portugal's leading Catholic churchman, Cerejeira became often associated with the authoritarian right-wing Estado Novo. This was the result of his friendship with Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar, GColIH, GCTE, GCSE served as the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1932 to 1968. He also served as acting President of the Republic briefly in 1951. He founded and led the Estado Novo , the authoritarian, right-wing government that presided over and controlled Portugal...
(a former university colleague of his at Coimbra
Coimbra
Coimbra is a city in the municipality of Coimbra in Portugal. Although it served as the nation's capital during the High Middle Ages, it is better-known for its university, the University of Coimbra, which is one of the oldest in Europe and the oldest academic institution in the...
) and his endorsement of many of the Estado Novos policies. He signed the Concordat of 1940
Concordat of 1940
The Concordat of 1940 was an agreement between Portugual and the Holy See of the Roman Catholic Church. The concordat was signed in Vatican City on 7 May 1940...
, between Portugal and the Catholic Church. However, even though a conservative, he accepted the Vatican Council II reforms rather more readily than did Salazar.