Benedita, Portugal

Benedita
Parish
The parish of Benedita in the municipality of Alcobaça.
Coordinates: 39°24′21.73″N 8°57′41.57″W
Country	Portugal
NUTII	Oeste e Vale do Tejo
NUTIII	Oeste
Municipality	Alcobaça

Benedita is a town and parish in the Portuguese municipality of Alcobaça and in the Oeste region. The parish of Benedita is located on southern edge of the municipality and has an area of 30km². It borders the municipalities of Caldas da Rainha and Rio Maior. It has a population of 8480 people, as of 2021, which makes it the most populated parish of the municipality of Alcobaça.

History

Its history is long, beginning in 800 AD. Later, Cistercian monks, an organisation of Christians that were already in the town of Alcobaça, started to search for places to do agriculture and farming. The place of Benedita received town status on May 16, 1984.

Economy

Although a predominantly rural area, the parish of Benedita is heavily industrialised. Its main industries are the shoe making, leather, knife making, stonemasonry industries. Pig farming is also important economically for this parish. The town of Benedita is one of the main commerce centers in the municipality of Alcobaça.

Nature

The eastern section of the parish is covered by the Aire and Candeeiros Ranges Natural Park.

Religion and culture

People of Benedita believe that there was a miracle with the Virgin Mary. The Virgin appeared to two sisters when they were getting water from a source, telling them to choose another location for the village church. Every time someone started the construction, the rocks disappeared. This happened so many times that people started to believe that the sisters were right and so the construction was not on the desired location and now these rocks are exposed in one of the schools at the village.