It was through him that the priest Lucian of Caphar Gamala near Jerusalem made known to the West the discovery of the body of Stephen (December 415).

The Greek encyclical letter of Lucian was translated into Latin by Avitus and sent to Braga with another for the bishop, Balconius, and for his clergy and people, together with a relic of Saint Stephen.

In fact, after the destruction of Astorga (433) by the Visigoths, Braga was elevated to the dignity of a metropolitan see in the time of Pope Leo I (440-461).

It contested with Toledo the primacy over all the Iberian sees, but the popes decided in favour of the latter city, since it retained as suffragans the dioceses of Porto, Coimbra, Viseu, Bragança-Miranda do Douro, Aveiro, and Pinhel.

He also left a number of letters in which he recommended a reform of manners, a life of faith and prayer and giving of alms, the constant practice of all virtues and the love of God."

Among these were Maurício Burdinho (1111–14), sent as legate to the Emperor Henry V (1118), and by him created antipope with the title of Gregory VIII; Pedro Juliano, Archdeacon of Lisbon, elected Bishop of Braga in 1274, created cardinal by Gregory X in 1276, and finally elected pope under the name of John XXI; Bartholomew a Martyribus[6] (1559–67), a Dominican,[6] who in 1566, together with Father Luís de Sotomayor, Francisco Foreiro, and others, assisted at the Council of Trent; de Castro, an Augustinian (1589–1609), who consecrated the cathedral, 28 July 1592.

He had been appointed bishop to the St. Thomas Christians of the Malabar Coast in Farther India and had forcibly Latinized them with the help of missionaries of the various religious orders.

[citation needed] The Archbishop of Braga has claimed the title of Primate of the Spains (Portuguese: Primaz das Espanhas) as the oldest diocese on the Iberian Peninsula.