Abilio Agusto Vas Das Neves

Abílio Augusto Vaz das Neves (8 June 1894 – 7 March 1980) was a Portuguese prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the Bishop of Cochin in India from 1934 to 1939 and as the Bishop of Bragança-Miranda in Portugal from 1939 until his resignation in 1965.

Early life and priesthood

Abílio Augusto Vaz das Neves was born on 8 June 1894 in the parish of Ifanes, in the municipality of Miranda do Douro, Portugal. At the age of 13, in 1907, he left for India to pursue a missionary vocation. He was ordained a priest on 7 December 1919 at the Cathedral of St. Thomas in Meliapore, India, beginning his ministerial work.

Episcopacy in India

Vaz das Neves was appointed Bishop of Cochin on 4 December 1933. He was consecrated a bishop on 28 January 1934, taking possession of the see on 2 February 1934. He succeeded José Bento Martins Ribeiro and led the Diocese of Cochin, a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman in India, until his appointment to return to his native Portugal in 1938.

Episcopacy in Portugal

On 8 December 1938, he was appointed Bishop of Bragança-Miranda by Pope Pius XI. He formally took over the diocese on 30 March 1939, succeeding Luís António de Almeida. During his long tenure, which lasted until 1965, he was a prominent figure in the region. One of his notable contributions was the foundation of the Mensageiro de Bragança (Messenger of Bragança), a diocesan newspaper first published on 1 January 1940, intended to foster communication and religious instruction among the faithful.

His episcopate was marked by numerous initiatives in education and social action, guided by the principle of "Integral Christian Education." He founded the Casa de Trabalho Patronato de Santo António (1940), the diocesan congregation of the Servas Franciscanas Reparadoras de Jesus Sacramentado (Franciscan Servants Reparers of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament) in 1950, the Colégio de S. João de Brito in Bragança, and the Colégio Diocesano in Mogadouro. He was responsible for completing the works at the Seminary of São José in Bragança and undertook renovations at the Episcopal Palace and the Seminary in Vinhais.

He participated in the first session of the Second Vatican Council and intervened in the debate on the Unity of the Church on 30 November 1962. He was also a member of the Episcopal Commission for Christian Education, and in 1958, he wrote a notable letter to Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar, advocating for the Church's and the family's rights in education, a move that coincided with the "Bishop of Porto affair" involving his colleague António Ferreira Gomes.

Later life and legacy

He led the Diocese of Bragança-Miranda until 20 February 1965, when his resignation was accepted by Pope Paul VI at the age of 71. On the same day, he was appointed Titular Bishop of Silli, a title he held until his resignation from that role on 27 January 1971. His resignation was partly influenced by the public controversy and political dispute over the rejection of his project for a new cathedral in Bragança by the National Education Board in 1964. He was succeeded by Manuel de Jesus Pereira.

After his resignation, he lived in the parish house of Chacim in Macedo de Cavaleiros, dedicating himself to the spiritual guidance of the congregation he had founded. D. Abílio Augusto Vaz das Neves passed away on 7 March 1980, in the hospital of Macedo de Cavaleiros. He was initially buried in his hometown of Ifanes.

On 8 June 2019, the 125th anniversary of his birth, his remains were exhumed and transferred to the Cathedral of Bragança. They were reinterred in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament in a ceremony presided by Bishop José Cordeiro.

Bibliography

• Belard, Duarte. D. Abílio Vaz das Neves: Um Bispo Missionário. Braga: Editorial Franciscana, 2019. ISBN 978-972-8447-81-6.
• Diocese de Bragança-Miranda. D. Abílio Augusto Vaz das Neves: O Bispo da Educação Integral. Bragança: Edição da Diocese, 1980.
• Lousada, Maria Antónia. Dicionário de História Religiosa de Portugal. Lisbon: Círculo de Leitores, 2000.

External links

• Profile on Catholic-Hierarchy.org
• Trasladação de D. Abílio Vaz das Neves at the Diocese of Bragança-Miranda (in Portuguese)