Meanwhile, the Archdiocese of Braga – where Bartholomew once served as archbishop – revealed on its own website that the canonisation ceremony is to take place on 10 November.

The Holy See on Monday announced that the pope approved the decision on Friday, during an audience granted to the prefect for the Congregation for the Cause of Saints, Cardeal Angelo Becciu. Francis "extended to the Universal Church the liturgical cult in honor of the Blessed Bartholomew of the Martyrs, of the Order of Preachers, the archbishop of Braga," the statement said.

According to the archdiocese, on 20 January Pope Francis, at an audience to the Congregation for the Cause of the Saints, "had granted the necessary authorisation for the remission of the miracle formally demonstrated for the declaration of sainthood of the Blessed Bartholomew of Martyrs."

The archbishop of Braga, Jorge Ortiga, had on 5 February 2015 submitted to Pope Francis a dossier on the life of the former archbishop, formulating the request for his equipollent canonisation – that is, without the need for a miracle, based on a widespread devotion to the figure in an area, and a papal prerogative.

Bartolomew of Martyrs was born Bartolomeu Fernandes in Lisbon on 3 May 1514 and died in Viana do Castelo on 16 July 1590.

He was archbishop of Braga between 1559 and 1582 and was an important participant in the Council of Trent, as a prominent element of the reformist wing of the church. In his own archdiocese, he established a network of hospitals and hospices as well as setting up Portugal’s first seminary for clerics.

He was declared venerable on 23 March 1845, by Pope Gregory XVI, and beatified on 4 November 2001, by Pope John Paul II.