Blessed Bartholomew was born near Lisbon on 3 May 1514.
He entered the Order of Preachers on 11 November 1527 and later made his solemn profession into the order on 20 November 1529. On the completion of his own studies in 1538 he taught philosophical studies in the Convent of the Order at Lisbon and then for about two decades taught theological studies in the various houses of the Dominicans. In 1551 he received his Master’s degree at the provincial chapter of Salamanca in Spain. He also served as the prior of the Benfica Convent from 1557 to 1558 and was in Évora as a teacher from 1538 until 1557.
In 1558 – against his own desires – and out of obedience to his provincial superior (the Venerable Louis of Granada (1505-1588) he accepted the appointment to the Archepiscopal see of Braga for which Queen Catherine had chosen him and in 1559 received his episcopal consecration at the Convent of Saint Dominic on 3 September 1559 from the Bishop of Coimbra João Soares.
A great famine and a visitation of the plague, revealed the depths of his charitable and merciful nature, in addition to his willingness to aid his flock in their time of need; he also constructed a series of hospitals and hospices.
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