chap, iv.] BISHOP APPOINTED. ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS. 69 



The Ecclesiastical division of the island now compre- 

 hends 50, instead of 46 parishes ; the hishop of the diocese 

 having found it necessary to increase the number, in con- 

 sequence of the large population and size of some of the old 

 parishes. 



The first church built in the island was that at Machico. 

 After Zarco had removed to the government of Funchal, he 

 erected another church, which he dedicated to N. S. de Cal- 

 hao ; this was washed away by the flood of 1800. The next 

 built was the chapel of Santa Catherina. 



BISHOP APPOINTED. 



In 1514 Funchal, which had hitherto been ruled by a 

 vigario, was raised to a bishopric, and the cathedral was 

 erected ; in 1539 it was advanced still further to the rank of 

 an archbishopric, but the archiepiscopal see was afterwards 

 removed to Goa, and a bishop again appointed in 1547. 



ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS. 



Formerly the Church had a court of its own, in which all 

 ecclesiastical causes, whether civil or criminal, were tried. 

 A special prison for the clergy was attached to it. This 

 court and prison were abolished by the constitution of 1822. 

 In the Ecclesiastical Court, as at present existing, the bishop 

 is only empowered to suspend a clergyman, convicted of any 

 offence, from the exercise of his office ; but he cannot deprive 

 any one, canonically collated to a benefice, without the ap- 

 proval of the government of Lisbon, to whom the pleadings 

 and sentence of the ordinary are forwarded. Where the 

 case is one for which the legislature has provided a punish- 

 ment, the pleadings are forwarded to the Jiciz de Direito, 

 who puts the law of the land into execution. A suit between 



