Jerónimo Fernando (Dom)

When the bishopric of Funchal fell vacant in 1617 on the transfer of the prelate Dom Lourenço de Távora to Elvas, the secular priest Jerónimo Fernando was presented as bishop of our diocese in 1619, and he took office in 1621. He was a native of Santarém, the son of Cristóvão Dias de Figueiroa and Dona Maria de Basto, and descended through illegitimacy from King Duarte, as can be read in his epitaph in the cloister of the Convento da Graça (Convent of Our Lady of Grace), Lisbon. In a note to his novel o Regicida, Camilo Castelo Branco says the following about this prelate’s ancestry:

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The Infante Ferdinand, father of King Manuel I, had an illegitimate daughter named Leonor. Queen Eleanor, wife of John II and half-sister of that girl, took her into the palace and brought her up with a sister’s care and affection. The lady grew up very flirtatious and wayward, to the great displeasure of the queen, who reproved her repeatedly, to no avail. Then one day, when the court was at Santarém, the queen caught the illegitimate girl by surprise flirting from the window with a knight in the street, who spurred his horse away on sensing the queen’s presence. A fierce quarrel broke out between the two Leonores, and the illegitimate girl, in a fit of defiance, declared that she would marry whomever she pleased. “Not that!” replied the wife of John II. “You shall marry whomever I see fit, and it shall be the first man who passes in the street, if he is unmarried.” At that moment an ordinary man named Álvaro Fernandes, a harness-maker by trade, appeared at the end of the street. The queen called him over, gave him a dowry and ordered the chaplain to marry them. They had children. Father Jerónimo Fernandes of Santarém was the great-grandson of this coquette, daughter of the Infante Ferdinand and sister of King Manuel I, and therefore also the great-grandson of the said Fernandes the harness-maker. The priest claimed and proved to Philip II that he was a great-great-grandson of the Infante Ferdinand, and obtained the mitre of Funchal.

Dom Jerónimo Fernando was the ninth prelate of this diocese, which he governed for the long period of thirty years. Ungracious in manner and by nature harsh and brusque, he was nicknamed ‘Bravo’ (the Fierce) as a result. He was nevertheless able to soften the meaning of that word through the impeccable correctness of his conduct and the irreproachable way in which he discharged the high duties of his office. A serious accusation was, however, made against him, though a political one: that he had supported Spanish rule and had not joined in the demonstrations held here at the time of the Restoration. It was Dr Álvaro Rodrigues de Azevedo who echoed this accusation in one of his notes to ‘Longing for the Homeland’ (Saudades da Terra). Yet a manuscript from the middle of the 18th century certainly states that ‘when Luís de Miranda Henriques was governor of this island, and this news (that of the Restoration) arrived on the tenth of January, the said lord was at once acclaimed king throughout the island, the bishop playing a great part in calming the tumult of the people, to whom the governor had become suspect because of the homage he had paid to King Philip II’. This statement contradicts the assertion of the annotator of ‘Longing for the Homeland’, and today it is not very easy to establish on which side the historical truth lies.

Dom Jerónimo Fernando was very zealous in preaching and in his pastoral visitations, and he was the first prelate to confirm and preach on the island of Porto Santo (‘holy harbour’).

He was assiduous in the religious services of the cathedral, to which he gave new regulations (regimento), and at his own expense he had the great organ built that is still there in the choir, beside the main entrance of the church. He reformed various church services, curbing many abuses and imposing strict observance of canonical discipline, though at times with excessive severity, which drew outcries and protests from those under his authority. He was indeed accused of appointing some priests from the mainland to various church posts, disregarding long-standing custom and even existing royal orders in favour of Madeiran clergy. However, he cleared himself of this charge, and his appointments were later upheld and confirmed by the higher authorities.

Three times, in the absence of the respective governors, he headed the administration of the archipelago, and the governments of mainland Portugal praised him for the impartial way in which he conducted himself in that office.

Towards the end of 1641 he withdrew to the mainland and never returned to the diocese. He died on 2 May 1650 and was buried in the church of the convent of Graça, in Lisbon. His tombstone bears the following epitaph: Tomb of Dom Jerónimo Fernando, bishop of Funchal for more than thirty years, great-great-grandson of King Duarte of Portugal through the most serene Infante Dom Fernando, his son; he died on 2 May 1650.