The dissolution of the monasteries in Portugal was a nationalization of the property of male monastic orders effected by a decree of 28 May 1834 enacted by Joaquim António de Aguiar at the conclusion of the Portuguese Civil War.
[1] Portugal thus terminated the state sanction of male religious orders, and nationalized the lands and possessions of over 500 monasteries.
This pattern was mainly driven by the enthusiasm for renewal engendered by the formation of the Autonomous Congregation of Alcobaça; however, the situation for smaller monasteries worsened after the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake.
This established a precedent which gave the Portuguese government full authority to reform, dissolve, and consolidate Cistercian monasteries at will.
Pope Gregory XVI condemned the action and other anti-church measures in an allocution issued on 1 August 1834, Cum pro pastorali.