68 DOM MIGUEL. ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS. [chap. iv. 



DOM MIGUEL. 



In 1828 Dom Miguel having occupied the throne of Por- 

 tugal, Madeira also came under the same rule, and on his 

 expulsion in 1834, it acknowledged in like mauner the title 

 of Donna Maria Segundo. In 1847 a popular emeute in 

 favour of the liberal constitution of 1820 displaced the 

 government for a few weeks, but by the united intervention 

 of England and France it was restored without bloodshed. 



ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS. 



The spiritualities of the island are vested in the Order of 

 Christ *, and the sovereign, as grand master of the order, 

 presents to the bishopric, the cathedral offices, canonries, 

 vicarages, and benefices ; the church preferment is only tem- 

 porarily filled up by the bishop of the diocese. By the law 

 of the 26th of March, 1843, the benefices then vacant, or 

 those which might thereafter become vacant, in the districts 

 of the nine collegiate churches of the island, could not be 

 filled up, their revenues being set aside by that law for the 

 increase of poor livings, and the establishment of new cura- 

 cies. This object has been in part carried out by a law of 

 the 24th of June, 1848. The nine collegiate churches are 

 the following : — Santa Maria Maior, S a ? Pedro, Camera de 

 Lobos, Pdbeira Brava, Ponta do Sol, Calheta, Machico, Sancta 

 Cruz, and Porto Santo. 



* " L'ordre militaire de Christ, institue, comrae on l'a dit, par Denis I., 

 Roi de Portugal, l'an 1319, fut confirme par le Pape Jean XXII., qui donna 

 aux chevaliers la regie de S. Benoit. Mais Alexandre VI. leur permit de 

 se marier. lis sont vetus de blanc, et portent sur la poitrine une croix 

 patriarchale de gueules, chargee d'une autre croix d'argent. La Grande 

 Maitrise de l'ordre est reunie a. la couronne de Portugal." — L'Art de verifier 

 les Dates. Paris, 1783, vol. i. p. 780. 



