Casével is a former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the municipality of Castro Verde, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Castro Verde e Casével. It is located 10 kilometres north-west of the municipal seat. It was considered the civil parish with the smallest population (365 inhabitants in 2001) in the municipality, covering an area of approximately 33.3 km².

History

The town received its Charter by order of King

Manuel I of Portugal Manuel I (; 31 May 146913 December 1521), known as the Fortunate ( pt, O Venturoso), was King of Portugal from 1495 to 1521. A member of the House of Aviz, Manuel was Duke of Beja and Viseu prior to succeeding his cousin, John II of Portugal, a ...

on the 20 September 1510 and was the municipal seat until 1836, when it was incorporated into the municipality of Messejana (the seat of the former

Knights of Santiago The Order of Santiago (; es, Orden de Santiago ), is a religious and military order founded in the 12th century. It owes its name to the Patron Saint of Spain, "Santiago" ( St. James the Greater). Its initial objective was to protect the pilgr ...

). Casével's only church, to the invocation of São João Baptista dates back to the 14th century, and was repaired several times, including in 1533 and again in 1940-1950 after it had been abandoned. During the course of its restoration, layers of debris were removed to reveal a gold-leaf altar, with various saints of which little is known, and golden silver ornaments, including the ''

Reliquary A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', by the French term ''châsse'', and historically including ''wikt:phylactery, phylacteries'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a ''fereter'', and a chapel in which it i ...

-Head of

Saint Fabian Pope Fabian ( la, Fabianus) was the bishop of Rome from 10 January 236 until his death on 20 January 250, succeeding Anterus. A dove is said to have descended on his head to mark him as the Holy Spirit's unexpected choice to become the next pop ...

'' and two

monstrance A monstrance, also known as an ostensorium (or an ostensory), is a vessel used in Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, High Church Lutheran and Anglican churches for the display on an altar of some object of piety, such as the consecrated Eucharistic Sa ...

, dating back to the 16th century. The ''Head'', fabricated from the 13th century, is a unique item: it is a sculpture in silver, containing the human skull of Pope Fabian, a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

. Legend has it that this relic arrived in Portugal in the possession of Princess

Vataça Lascaris Lady Vataça Lascaris di Ventimiglia (1268 or c. 1272, in Ventimiglia, Italy, Ventimiglia or Aragon – 1336 or c. 1336, in Coimbra), also referred as ''Vatatsa Lascaris, Vataça of Ventimiglia, Dona Betaça, Betaça de Grécia, Vatatsa or Vetacia' ...

, and today is (and on exhibition at the Royal Treasury in the Basilica of Castro Verde). On 24 October 1855 it was incorporated into the municipality of Castro Verde.

Geography

Located in the northwest corner of the municipality, the parish is bisected by two motorways: the E1 Motorway (''Auto-Estrada do Sul'') that bisects the territory between the village of Casével and Aivados (connecting the main centre of Setúbal with Faro); and the secondary IC1 Motorway, in the western corner of the parish, that runs through the municipality of

Ourique Ourique () is a city in the District of Beja in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 5,389, in an area of 663.31 km2. This town is traditionally considered the site of the famous Battle of Ourique in 1139, which saw the forces of Portuguese ...

(intersecting two kilometres of Casével). There are no exits off of the E1, although secondary roads do link the IC1 to all the settlements in the parish. It is surrounded by the parishes of

, Panóis and Conceição (to the west) in the municipality of

;

Aljustrel Aljustrel () is a town and a municipality in the Portuguese district of Beja. The population in 2011 was 9,257, in an area of 458.47 km2. The present mayor is Nelson Domingos Brito, elected by the Socialist Party. The municipal holiday is Jun ...

and Messejana (to the north) in the municipality of

Aljustrel Municipality Aljustrel () is a town and a municipality in the Portuguese district of Beja. The population in 2011 was 9,257, in an area of 458.47 km2. The present mayor is Nelson Domingos Brito, elected by the Socialist Party. The municipal holiday is Jun ...

; and the parish of Castro Verde (to the east and south). In addition, the northern limit of the civil parish is marked by a rail-line that slices the northern frontier on a diagonal trajectory (northeast to southwest) from Carregueiro (in

) into Panois. There are only three settlements in this parish, two of which are equidistant from the E1 motorway (Aviados and Casével) and the other (Estação de Ourique) which is a railway terminus and rural agglomeration. The remainder of the parish is divided into agricultural parcels/pastureland occasionally broken-up by farms or derelict buildings. The largest (and parish seat) is the village of Casével, its centre located two kilometres from the E1.

Economy

The principal activities in the village are related to agriculture and animal husbandry, in addition to small commercial and industrial sectors associated with milling, electricians and saw-milling.

Architecture

* Church of São João Baptista ( pt, Igreja Matriz de São João Baptista), based on a 14th-century chapel dedicated to

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

, the principal church of Casével was re-built in the Mannerist-/

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

-style in the 16th century, with the tower being constructed during the middle of the 20th century. Although a process to qualify the structure as a designated heritage site was petitioned (24 April 1985) by the municipal authority, the process was closed in on 24 January 2009, ''"for not having national value"''.

Culture

The village of Casével is home to acclaimed coral groups which have a long history of cultural importance within the municipality of Castro Verde. The ''Associação de Cante Alentejano: Vozes das Terras Brancas'' is the central body that promotes various groups of traditional ''canto'' singers, including ''Vozes de Casével'' and ''Antigas Mondadeiras'', and its installations are open to the public (in the main square), allowing visitors to listen and appreciate the traditional ethnography and food of the parish.

Notable citizens

Alfredo Luís da Costa Alfredo Luís da Costa (24 November 1883 – 1 February 1908) was a Portuguese people, Portuguese publicist, editor, journalist, shop assistant and salesman who was part of the Portuguese Carbonária and a Freemasonry, Mason, best remembered for be ...

(24 November 1883 - Lisbon; 1 February 1908), was a Portuguese publicist, salesman, a

Mason Mason may refer to: Occupations * Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces * Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cut ...

and member of the Portuguese

Carbonária The Carbonária was originally an anti-clerical, revolutionary, conspiratorial society, originally established in Portugal in 1822 and soon disbanded. It was allied with the Italian Carbonari. A new organization of the same name and claiming to be i ...

, best remembered for being one of the two gunmen (along with

Manuel Buíça Manuel dos Reis da Silva Buíça (31 December 1875 – 1 February 1908) was a Portuguese schoolteacher and soldier involved in the regicide of King Carlos I of Portugal and Prince Royal, Luís Filipe, during the events that became known as the Li ...

) who assassinated King Carlos I of Portugal and the Prince Royal, Luis Filipe, during the 1908

Lisbon Regicide The Lisbon Regicide or Regicide of 1908 ( pt, Regicídio de 1908) was the assassination of King Carlos I of Portugal and the Algarves and his heir-apparent, Luís Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal, by assassins sympathetic to Republican interests ...

References

Notes

Sources

External links

Town Hall official website
(Portuguese: Use Google Translate to convert to other languages) {{DEFAULTSORT:Casevel Populated places in Beja District