The Reliquary of Saint Vincent in Vila do Bispo (Algarve, Portugal)

This worship has always been strongly sustained by the people’s religiosity, as proven by the valuable reliquaries, renovated and enriched out of Christian piety.

In the 8^th century, the relics of Saint Vincent, a deacon martyred in Valencia, were brought to the Promontorium Sacrum by the Christians fleeing the city after the Muslim invasion. The venerable relics were laid to rest in the so-called church of Raven, in the furthest south-western end of the Algarve. The worshipping of the martyr in this geographical area has persisted over the centuries among the Mozarabic Christians living in the South part of the Iberian Peninsula.

Although the relics were transferred to Lisbon in 1173, during the reign of D. Afonso Henriques, pilgrims continued to flock to the small chapel of Saint Vincent, in the Western Algarve, especially after the Christian Reconquest.

The existence of Saint Vincent’s relics in this part of the world was reported by the fleet of King D. João I as they sailed past the cape on their way to Ceuta (1415).

According to a report by Brother Manuel de Monforte, D. João de Melo, the Bishop of the Algarve (1468-1481), had even commissioned a crystal dome meant to hold one of the Saint’s relics, thought to be a bone from one of the hands. According to the same report, it was already there when the Franciscan monks arrived at the convent in 1516 (c.).

D. Fernando Coutinho (1465-1538), also greatly contributed to preserve and expand the cult of Saint Vincent in the Algarve.

The church of Cape Saint Vincent was often the target of privateer attacks – such as the one led by Francis Drake in 1587 -, but the clergymen have always been able to keep the relic safe. The convent was rebuilt, and the devotion has been kept alive to this day in this Southern territory. Numerous pilgrims head to the Cape Convent Church on Saint Vincent’s day – the 22^nd January.

Saint Vincent was proclaimed the main patron of the Diocese of Algarve by Bishop D. Francisco Gomes de Avelar in 1794.

In 1834, the document drawn up on the date the Franciscan convent was extinguished mentioned One Relic as belonging to Saint Vincent, which, together with other sacred objects, is currently kept in the mother church of Our Lady of the Conception in Vila do Bispo.

References

• MATOS, António Perestrelo de, MACHADO, José Sousa, Moçárabe em Peregrinação a S. Vicente, Caminus, Beja, 1990.
• DIAS, Isabel Rosa, Culto e memória Textual de S. Vicente em Portugal, Universidade do Algarve, 2003
• PICOITO, Pedro, A Trasladação de S. Vicente. Consenso e Conflito na Lisboa do século XII, ISEC/IEM, 2008.