Governing Board of the Diocese in 1869

Although this diocese was on several occasions governed by governing boards (junta governativa) following the death or absence of its prelates, there was one that caused a great stir by the way it managed the affairs of the bishopric. The press of this city, and of the capital too, took up its actions, which went so far as to earn the formal condemnation of the Portuguese episcopate and even of the Holy See. Owing to the absence of Bishop Dom Patrício Xavier de Moura in 1869, the diocese was administered by a governing board of three clerics. Departing from canon law and established practice, this board aroused the ill will of the clergy and the faithful, and its conduct was censured by the nunciature in Lisbon. The most prominent and scandalous act of its administration was the circular of 26 January 1870, which condemned various practices of piety and religion in the most diametrical opposition to the teachings of the Church and the doctrines of its most authoritative doctors and theologians. The distinguished writer and great Catholic polemicist Sousa Monteiro dealt with the matter in the Bem Publico, and in 1870 a pamphlet was published in Lisbon under the title Breves reflexões acerca da Circular de 26 de Janeiro de 1870 do presidente da Junta Governativa do Bispado do Funchal.