Lusitanian Catholic Apostolic Evangelical Church

Lusitanian Catholic Apostolic Evangelical Church
Igreja Lusitana Católica Apostólica Evangélica
Seal of Lusitanian Catholic Apostolic Evangelical Church
Abbreviation	LCAEC
Classification	Protestant (Anglicanism) with Old Catholic influences and origin
Orientation	Anglican
Scripture	Holy Bible
Theology	Anglican doctrine
Polity	Episcopal
Primate	Archbishop Justin Welby
Bishop	Jorge Pina Cabral
Extra-provincial church	Portuguese extra-provincial church within Anglican communion
Associations	Anglican Communion Porvoo Communion
Region	Portugal
Language	Portuguese
Liturgy	Latin Rite and Mozarabic Rite
Headquarters	Lisbon, Portugal
Origin	1880
Congregations	14
Members	5,000
Official website	Official Website

The Lusitanian Catholic Apostolic Evangelical Church (Portuguese: Igreja Lusitana Católica Apostólica Evangélica) in Portugal is a member church of the Anglican Communion.^[1] Like all Anglican Communion churches, it recognises the spiritual leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury. In addition, the church is an extra-provincial diocese under the metropolitical authority of the archbishop. The current bishop is Jorge Pina Cabral.

History[]

The establishment of a constitutional monarchy in 1834 granted limited religious toleration to non-Roman Catholics, and consequently led to the opening of an Anglican chapel in Lisbon. A second chapel was opened in 1868. The Anglican mission coincided with the growing influence of the Old Catholic movement in Portugal. Congregations were created from Catholic priests and laypeople who refused to accept the dogmas of the infallibility and universal ordinary jurisdiction of the Pope, as defined by the First Vatican Council in 1870.

The Lusitanian Church was formed in 1880 as representatives of these congregations met at a synod presided over by H.C. Riley, bishop of the newly formed mission in Mexico. The synod resulted in a constitution and a decision to abide by the doctrinal and liturgical standards of the Anglican Communion. In 1884, a Portuguese Book of Common Prayer was created, incorporating elements of Anglican, Roman, and Mozarabic liturgies. From the beginning the church was assisted by a Council of Bishops presided over by Lord Plunket, at that time Church of Ireland Bishop of Meath, and years afterwards there were some American Episcopal Bishops who provided Episcopal ministrations and pastoral care, particularly Bishops in Charge of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, until the consecration of the first Lusitanian Bishop in 1958.

Under the terms of the Bonn Agreement, the Lusitanian Church established full communion with various branches of the Anglican and Old Catholic Communions. Full integration into the Anglican Communion occurred in 1980 when the Church became an extra-provincial diocese under the metropolitical authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Membership[]

The church has around 5,000 members.^[2]

Structure[]

As an Episcopal denomination, the church is governed by a bishop (Greek, επίσκοπος episcopos). The Lusitanian Church is a diocese with two archdeaconries, for the North and South of Portugal, and 14 parishes. It also has missions. The bishop has his episcopal see at Lisbon, where his throne is located in St Paul's Cathedral. The administration of the diocese is centred at Oporto.

Worship and liturgy[]

The Lusitanian Church embraces three orders of ministry: deacon, priest, and bishop. Increasingly, an emphasis is being placed on these orders working collaboratively within the wider ministry of the whole people of God. A Portuguese language Prayer Book is the basis of the Church's liturgy.

In the early days of the church, a translation into Portuguese from 1849 of the 1662 edition of the Book of Common Prayer was used. In 1884 the church published its own prayer book based on the Anglican, Roman and Mozarabic liturgies. The intent was to emulate the customs of the primitive apostolic church.^[3]

Ecumenical relations[]

Like many other Anglican churches, the Lusitanian Church has entered into full communion with the Old Catholics. The church is now also a part of the Porvoo Communion, a communion of Anglican and Nordic Lutheran churches.

Lusitanian Church is also a member of CEPPLE - Conference of Protestant Churches in Latin Countries of Europe (Conférence des Eglises protestantes des Pays latins d'Europe).

See also[]

• St Paul's Cathedral, Lisbon — seat of the Lusitanian Church
• Protestantism in Portugal

References[]

Bibliography[]

• Anglican Communion, and Church of England. The Iberian Churches. [London] [14 Great Peter St., SW1P 3NQ]: Anglican Consultative Council, 1980. Responsibility: report to the Archbishop of Canterbury by the commission appointed to consider the application by the Lusitanian Church and the Spanish Episcopal Church for full integration into the Anglican Communion.
• Church of Ireland, and William Conyngham Plunket Plunket. The Irish Bishops and Church Reform in Spain and Portugal: A Record of the Action Taken by the Irish Episcopate at Their Meeting February 20, 1894. Dublin: Hodges, Figgis, 1894.
• Colóquio comemorativo do centenário da Igreja do Torne. Vila Nova de Gaia de ha cem anos. Vila Nova de Gaia: Junta Paroquial de S.João Evangelista, 1995.
• Iglesia Española Reformada Episcopal, and Colin Ogilvie Buchanan. Liturgies of the Spanish and Portuguese Reformed Episcopal Churches. Grove, 1985.
• Igreja Lusitana Católica Apostólica Evangélica. Eucaristia ou Ceia do Senhor. [Pôrto]: [Imprensa Social], 1963.
• Igreja Lusitana Católica Apostólica Evangélica. O livro de oração comum; administração dos sacramentos e outros ofícios divinos na Igreja Lusitana. Porto, Portugal: Tipo-Lito de Gonçalves & Nogueira, 1928.
• Igreja Lusitana Católica Apostólica Evangélica. Lusitanian Church, Catholic Apostolic Evangelical: A Century of Portuguese Anglican Witness. Vila Nova de Gaia: [s.n.], 1985.
• Igreja Lusitana Católica Apostólica Evangélica (Portugal). Ecclesia. Orgão Oficial Da Igreja Lusitana Católica Apostólica Evangélica. Ano 5. No. 24. Ano 6. No. 25/27. Nov. 1953, Jan/Maio 1954. 1953.
• Irwin, O. A. C. Pilgrim Churches: The Spanish and Portuguese Reformed Episcopal Churches. [London, England]: [Houghton & Sons, Ltd.], 1956.
• The Lusitanian Church Catholic, Apostolic, Evangelical: Is Episcopal, Essentially National, Truly Catholic and Apostolic, Really Independent of Rome or of Any Other Foreign Authority, and Only with These Features Indispensable to a Truly Evangelical, Independent and National Church Has She Any Right to Exist. Oporto: Mendonça Press, 1913.
• Macdonald, John A. 2013. "Dioceses Extra-Provincial to Canterbury (Bermuda, the Lusitanian Church, the Reformed Episcopal Church of Spain, and Falkland Islands)". 464-473. IN: Markham, Ian S.; Provinces; Markham/The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to the Anglican Communion; The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to the Anglican Communion; 464-473; John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester, UK. Summary: This chapter describes three dioceses and one parish that are extra-provincial and come under the primatial authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The three dioceses are the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church (Iglesia Espanola Reformada Episcopal), the Lusitanian Catholic Apostolic Evangelical Church of Portugal (Igreja Lusitana Catolica Apostolica Evangelica), and the Diocese of Bermuda. The Falkland Islands are considered a parish and receive Episcopal attention from a bishop commissary appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
• Moreira, Eduardo. Esboço da história da Igreja Lusitana. [Portugal]: Edição do Sínodo da Igreja Lusitania Católica Apostólica Evangélica, 1949.
• Plunket, William Conyngham Plunket, R. Stewart Clough, and Thomas Godfrey Pembroke Pope. The Divine Offices and Other Formularies of the Reformed Episcopal Churches of Spain and Portugal. London: S.W. Partridge, 1882.
• Ribeiro, António Pinto. Catecismo de doutrina cristã: destinado à instrução religiosa dos alunos das escolas primárias da Igreja Lusitana Católica Apostólica Evangélica. [Porto]: Edição do Sínodo da Igreja Lusitania, 1949.
• Ordem da eucaristia: segundo o rito da Igreja Lusitana: edição do Sínodo da Igreja Lusitana Católica Apostólica Evangélica. S.l: s.n.], 1969.

External links[]

• Official Web site (in Portuguese)
• Church Reform in Spain and Portugal: A Short History of the Reformed Episcopal Churches of Spain and Portugal, from 1868 to the Present Time, by H. E. Noyes (1897)
• Liturgia da Igreja Lusitana (1991) (in Portuguese)
• Reformation Movements in Foreign Churches (with Special Reference to Spain and Portugal), by William Conyngham Plunket (1885)