S. Gonçalo has the honor of the patron saint of Amarante and his memory is celebrated on two occasions during the year: the 10th of January, the date of his death, and the first weekend of June, with the great festivities of the city.

Coming from the noble family of Pereira, Gonçalo was born in Paço de Arriconha, parish of Divino Salvador de Tagilde - Vizela, around 1187 and inherits from his parents the nobility in the blood and the greatness in the Faith.

He is educated in good Christian principles and, when he reaches his youth, he opts for ecclesiastical life, studying the first letters, it is believed, in the Benedictine monastery of Santa Maria de Pombeiro de Ribavizela, Felgueiras, that he continued his studies at the Paço Arcebispal de Braga, where he would come to be ordained a priest. He was entrusted with the parish of S. Paio de Vizela, becoming, on an uncertain date, canon of Santa Maria da Oliveira (Collegiate of Guimarães).

Not satisfied with his parish life and burning with the desire to visit the most holy places of Christianity, he decided to start a long pilgrimage to Rome, to be with the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul, and then on to Palestine.

After fourteen years, Gonçalo returns to his parish of S. Paio de Vizela, which, during his absence, was directed by a nephew who, not recognizing him, expelled him from home. Disillusioned by the opulent and lavish life of his replacement and faced with disrespect for Christian teachings and humility, he decides to abandon the parish life and opts for a more contemplative, hermitic and evangelizing modus vivendi. Stunned in this spirit, he took the habit of the Order of S. Domingos.

It was through this new way of life that it reached the Tâmega valley. Facing a ruined hermitage dedicated to Nossa Senhora da Assunção, located in a deserted place, next to the river and close to a vacant bridge, the old temple is installed and restored.

Calcorreading the villages of the Tâmega valley and Serra do Marão, Frei Gonçalo, accompanied by a spiritual brother, Frei Lourenço Mendes, evangelizes and blesses marital unions, supports and protects the most disadvantaged and performs some wonders, which give him an aura of sanctity . In the course of these pastoral actions, he is faced with the difficulties and the danger that his faithful ran when venturing to cross the river, especially at times when it presented more flow and, in the absence of alternatives, he decides to undertake, himself, the restoration or rebuilding of the old Roman bridge, back in 1250.