This issue of CTT Stamps has the title Archbishops of Braga. The collection was born of another Editorial Project in the form of a book with the same name, a kind of synthesis with the illustrated Episcopal History which was produced for the Archdiocese of Braga with the aim of promoting the cultural activities of the Archdiocesan Commission for Property and Heritage (Comissão Arquidiocesana Para os Bens Patrimoniais - CABP) and the activities of the IHAC – Instituto de História e Arte Cristãs (Christian History and Art Institute) of which it is part.
This work will include the painted oil portraits on canvas of the Prelates, the collection of the Gallery of Archbishops and property of the Archdiocese of Braga. In addition to the portraits, it includes in its binding the so-called Arms of Faith insignia, as well as brief
pastoral and spiritual biographies, references to the works produced, and the signatures of the various Bishops and Lords who have occupied the Cathedra of Braga.
As an editorial complement to the book, a collection of 18 stamps featuring key gures in the ecclesiastical history of Braga, the so-called ‘Rome of Portugal’, has also been devised. The stamps will be released in a sequence of 6 stamps per year over 3 years
Also planned for collectors is a notepad featuring an aerial view of the Bom Jesus do Monte Sanctuary in Braga, which features in the Tentative List of Portugal for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The issue is planned to coincide with a Conference on Rodrigo de Moura Teles, the principal mentor and reformer of the then Santa Cruz Chapel.
Therefore, together with the stamps, a short lea et with biographical and chronological notes on the Archdioceses' Prelatic Functions will be presented, featuring on its frontispiece a photograph of the façade of the Braga Cathedral - the site of the Cathedra - the apex of the so-called “Tourist Triangle of Braga”.
The stamp collection will be presented on the occasion of the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the Religious Profession of the Most Reverend Archbishop of Braga and Primaz of the Spains, Dom Jorge Ferreira da Costa Ortiga, current holder of the Cathedra.
António Gerardo Monteiro Esteves, Architect and Director
of the Archdiocesan Commission for Property and Heritage
