Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 2.djvu/208

 AZORES

168

AZORES

tiones ad conscientiam recte aut prave factorum periinentes breviter tractantur pars 1"'", the first volume of which appeared at Rome in 1600. the sec- ond six years later, and the last in 1611. The work met with flattering success in Rome and at all the Continental seats of learning, and was honoured by a special Brief of Clement VIII. Numerous editions were brought out at Brescia, Venice, Lyons. Cologne, Ingolstadt, Paris. Cremona, and Rome. The work continuetl to hold its lofty position during the suc- ceeding centuries, was strongly recommended by Bossuet in his synodal statutes, and was held in highest regard by that master in moral theologj', St. .AJphonsus Liguori. Gury speaks of Father Azor as " a moderate Probabiliorist. in wisdom, in depth of learning and in gra\'ity of judgment taking deservedly high rank among theologians". There are extant in MS. other works by Father Azor; in Rome, in the Jesuit archives, a commentarj- on the Canticle of Canticles; at Wurzburg, an exposition of the Psalms, and at Alcald several theological treatises on parts of the "Summa" of St. Thomas.

SoMMEBVoGEL, Bib, de la comp. de J,; Hurter, Nomen- ctator. I, 232.

Arthur J. McC.tFFH.\T.

Azores (Portuguese Agores, "Falcons"), an archi- pelago situated in that tract of the Atlantic Ocean which is known to mariners as the Sargasso Sea. The islands lie, approximately, from S. E. to X. ^\., about a diagonal of the quadrilateral formed by the 37th and 4bth parallels of north latitude and the 24th and 32d meridians of west longitude. Their distribution may be considered as forming tliree sub-

f roups: the relativelj- large islands of Sao Miguel and anta Maria, to the extreme south-east; Fayal, Pico, Sao Jorge. Terceira, and Graciosa about midway, Terce- ira being about 880 geograplucal (1012 English) miles from the Portuguese coast; Flores and Corvo on the extreme north-west. These nine islands, aggregating in area about 922 square miles, varj' greatly in size, from Sao Miguel, with an area of 288, to Corvo, with an area of not more than 5 square miles. The For- migas and other tiny islets throughout the archipelago are of no importance except as perils to navigation. Physically, the Azores are in general characterized by the bold and irregular conformation usually found in islands of volcanic origin. The snow-capped volcano which is the predominating feature of Pico rises to a height of 8500 feet; the Vara, in Sao Miguel, is more than 5500 feet; but the crater of the Sete Cidades volcano, also in Sao Miguel, is said to be not more than 866 feet above the sea level. The volcanic character of these islands is also unmistakably shown by the recurrence in their mountain-formations of more or less extinct craters (locally called caldeiras — "kettles"), one of which, the Caldeira of Graciosa, forms a steaming lake of pitch. Almost all the islands contain mineral springs, the best kno^ii of which are in Sao Miguel, Terceira, Graciosa, and Flores. As might be expected, the Azores are specially subject to earthquakes; in 1522 the city of Villa Franca, in Sao Miguel, was destroyed, with, it is said. 6000 of its inhabitants, by an earthquake, and another earthquake, in June. ISll, is memorable for the birth, about two miles otT the coast of Sao Miguel, of the little island which was named Sabrina after the British warsliip that was present at, and reported, the phenomenon. The climate, though mild anci equable, is extremely humid, the number of rainj- days in the year averaging about 163, or not far from 30 per cent, and producing a rainfall estimated at verj' nearly 39 inches; snow never falls, except on the highest mountains; the recorded mini- mum temperature is about 39 F., the maximum only 81 F. (very exceptionally as high as 86 F.), and the mean for all seasons 63 F.

History. — The existence of this archipelago was

not generally kno^\-n to the inhabitants of Europe before the fifteenth century of our era, although there is evidence that Phcenician, Scandinavian, and Arabian navigators visited it at tlifferent periods. In 1432 the Portuguese, Gongalo Velho Cabral, dis- covered the island of Santa ilaria, and bj- the year 1457 all the islands had been visited by either Portuguese or Flemish explorers, none of whom found any aboriginal inhabitants, wild animals, or reptiles. In 1466 AiTonso V of Portugal granted to the Duchess Isabel of Burgundy, liis aunt, some sort of feudal privilege in the Azores, in consequence of which the colonists for some time were mostly Flemings, and the Portuguese themselves in those days called the islands .-Is Ilhns Flamengas (the Flemish Islands). The first Portuguese colonies of any importance in the Azores were those of Sao Miguel, and Terceira, and at the end of the fifteenth century a certain number of the Moors, driven from Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella, took refuge in the islands.

It was not until 1534 that the ecclesiastical organ- ization of the Azores was effected. Until then they had been under the jurisdiction of the Grand Prior of the Order of Clu-ist. The Bull of Pope Paul III, dated 5 November, 1534, immediately after that pontiff's accession to the Apostolic See, formed a diocese with its metropolis at Angra do Heroismo, in the island of Terceira. to include the whole of tliis archipelago. The See of Angra was made suffragan to that of Funchal. but in 1547 it was removed from this jurisdiction and placed under that of the then Archiepiscopal (now Patriarchal) See of Lisbon. From 1580 to 1640 the Azores, like the rest of the Portuguese dominions, had to submit to the rule of Spain, and during that period the neighbouring waters were the scene of many hard fights between the Spanish and the English sea-rovers. The commercial prosperity of the islands declined after the recovery of Portuguese independence and the accession of the House of Braganza in 1640. The city of Angra at- tained some slight historical notoriety in 1662, when Affonso VI, deposed by his brother Doni Pedro, was imprisoned there. Material prosperity began to he restored in the Azores immediatelj- after the period of the French invasion of the Peninsula and the flight of Joao 1\ to Brazil (1807), when the former restrictions of commerce were removed. In the Portuguese revolution of 1828-33, the Azorean popu- lations took a decided stand against the absolutist Dom Miguel, repulsed an attack upon the island of Terceira by a Miguelist fleet, and contributed largely to form the Progrcssista army which landed at Oporto in 1833, driving Dom Miguel into exile, and establish- ing on the throne the Queen Donna Maria da Gloria, who for two years preceding had resided at Angra.

Present Coxditioxs. — The Azores are not a colony, nor a foreign dependency of Portugal, but an integral part of the kingdom. His ilost Faithful Majesty is represented in the islands by a go\ernor residing at Angra, which is regarded as the political capital; at the same time the inhabitants are on a legislative and fiscal equality with those of the Portuguese mainland, being regularly represented in the Cortes at Lisbon. The total population of the archipelago in the year 1900 was 256,291 (i. e. 277.9 to the square mile), mostly of Portuguese origin, though of course with considerable intermixture of Flemish and Moorish blood, with traces of immigra- tion from the British Isles, and a sprinkling of negroes.

Economically, the people of the Azores depend chiefly upon agriculture, this term being taken as including the production of wine. Most of the wine produced in the arcliipelago comes from the island of Pico, and, under the name of Fayal -n-ine, derived from the port whence it was sliipped, used to be famous in bygone days. The area exclusively de-