Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/292

 OPHITES

260

OPORTO

represents Solomon's fleet bringing gold, silver, thyine (proliabh- suntal) wood, precious stones, ivory, apes, and pcacoiks (111 Kings, ix, 26-28; x, 11, 22; II Par., viii, 17-lS; ix, 10). Its location has been sought where the articles mentioned are native productions; still, while Ophir is repeatedly .sjioken of as a gold-produc- ing region (Job, xxii. 21; xxviii, 10; I's. xliv, 10; Is., xiii, 12), it does not follow that the other articles came from there; whether they were natural products, or only bought and sold there, or even purchased by the merchantmen at inter\-eiiing ports, cannot be gathered from the text, as it states merely that they were fetched to Asiongaber. The Bible does not give the geographical position of Ophir; it only says that the voyage out from Asiongaber and back lasted three years (III Kings, x, 22). Scholars have been guided in their several identifications of the site by the importance they attach to this or that particular indi- cation in the sacred text — especially the products brought to Solomon — also by resemblances, real or fanciful, between the Hebrew names of Ophir and of the articles mentioned in connexion therewith and names used in various countries and languages. The Greek translators of the Bible, by rendering the He- brew Ophir into Sophir, the Coptic name for India, would locate the Biblical El Dorado in India, accord- ing to some in the land of the Abhira, east of the delta of the Indus, according to others, on the coast of Mal- abar or at Ceylon, and accorditig to others still in the Malay Peninsula. The opinion that it was situated on the southern or south-eastern coast of Arabia has many advocates, who contend from the text of Gen., X, 29, 30, that Ophir must be located between Saba and Hevilath. Another opinion says it was not in Asia, but either on the south-eastern coast of Africa (Sofala) or inland in Mashonaland.

H.vLL AND Neal, The Ancient Ruins of Rhodesia (London, 1902); Cory, The Rise of South Africa (London, UIOI) ; Low. Maritime Discovery, I (London, 1881); Peyron, Leximn l.imiU'j CopticcE (Turin, 1835); Huet, Commentaires sur les nanu'^hnr ■ ,/, Salomon in Bruzen de la Martiniere, Traites geogniphuint s ,/ historiques pour faciliter V intelligence de VEcrUure Sainte. II (Tlie Hague, 1730); Quatremere, Memoire sur le pays d'Ophir in Memoires de V Academic des Inscriptions, XV (Paris, 1842); Vl- GOCROUX, La Bible et Irs dcrouvertcs modernes. III (6th ed., Paris, 1896); ViviF': T-.i- ^M-.-T-M \kti-:, Nistoire de la geographic et des decouvertes ij' I ' I ■:, I ^7 '0 ; Gesenids, Op/ii'r in Ersch

AND Grubu:, II 'nschaften (1833); Glaser,

Skiize der H. < ' / (,,,.,„,,,,/,,, Arabiens, II (1890); Guthe,

Kurzes Bibelu:,/, ,imi, I, 1 1 uIjii.kiu, 1903); Herzfeld, Hartdels- geschichte der Juden der AUti-lhums (1879); Lassen, Indische Al~ terthumskunde, I (1860) ; Lieblein, Handel und Sehifffahrt auf dem TOlhen Meer in alien Zeiten (Leipzig, 1886) ; Mauch, Reisende in Ost'Afrika (1871); Merensky, Beilrdge zur Kenntniss Sud- Afrikas (1875): Mi^ller. Asien und Europa nach altagyptischen Denkmalem (1.S93); Peters, Das goldene Ophir Salomons (Mu- nich, 1895); Soetbeer, Das Goldland Ophir (1880).

Charles L. Souvay.

Ophites. See Gnosticism.

Opinions, Theological. See Theology.

Oporto, Diocese op (Portccalensis), in Portu- gal; comprising 26 civil concelhos of the districts of Oporto and Aveiro; probably founded in the middle of the sixth century. At the third Council of Toledo (589) the Arian usurper Argiovito was deposed in favour of Constancio the rightful bishop. In 610 Bishop Argeberto assisted at a council at Toledo, summoned by King Gundemar to sanction the metro- politan claims of Toledo. Bishop Ansiulfo was present at the Sixth Council of Toledo (638) and Bishop Flavio at the Tenth (6.56). Bi.shop Froarico- attended the Third Council of Braga (67.5) and the Twelfth, Thir- teenth, and Fifteenth Councils of Toledo (681, 683, and 688), and his successor Felix appeared at the Sixteenth Council (693). No other bishop is recorded under the Visigothio monarchy. After tlie Arab invasion Ju.s- tus seems to have been the first bishop. Gomado was probably elected in 872, when King Affonso III won back the city. The names of only four other prelates have been pre8er\'ed: Froarengo (906), Her- mogio (912), Ordonho, and Diogo. Oporto fell again

into Moorish hands, and on its recovery, Hugo became bishop (111-1-1134-6). He secured exemption from the Archbishop of Hraga. He grc:illy enl;ii-ged his diocese and the cathedral patrimony increaseil by the donations he secured; thus, in 1120, hi; received from D. Theresa jurisdiction over the City of Oporto with all the rents and dues thereof. John Peculiar was promoted to Braga (1138), his nephew, Pedro Rabal- dis, succeeding at Oporto. Next came D. Pedro Pitoes (114.5 to 1152 or 1155), D. Pedro Senior (d. 1172), and D. Fenifio M;irtins (d. 11,S,5). Martinho Pires instituted a (■li;ii)tcr, was promoted to Braga, 1189 or 1190. Martinho Kodrigues ruled from 1191 to 1235. He quarrelled with the chapter over their

Way of the Cross, Cathedral, Oporto

The building, in Gothic style, dates from 1385 — the mural

decorations date from the XVIII century

share of the rents of the see. Later on, fresh dis- agreements arose in which King Sancho intervened against the bishop, who was deprived of his goods and had to flee, but was restored by the king when Innocent III espoused the bishop's cause. Another quarrel soon arose between prelate and king, and the bishop was imprisoned; but he escaped and fled to Rome, and in 1209 the king, feeling the approach of death, made peace with him. His successor, Pedro Salvadores, figured prominently in the questions be- tween the clergy and King Sancho II, who refused to ecclesiastics the right of purchasing or inheriting land. Portugal fell into anarchy, in which the clergy's rights were violated and their persons outraged, though they themselves were not guiltless. Finally, Pope Inno- cent IV committed the reform of abuses to Affonso, brother of Sancho, who lost his crown.

Under Bisho]) Julian (1247-fiO) the jurisdiction difficulty became aggravated. A settlement was effected at the Cortes of Leiria (1254), which the bishop refused to ratify, but he had to give way. When King Affonso III determined (1265) that all rights and properties usurped during the disorders of San- cho's reign should revert to the Crown, nearly all the bishops, including the Bishop of Oporto, then D.