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The endeavours for a controversial and never concluded plan for the reformation of the regular orders were in the origin of several evaluations of the church’s heritage, prior to the full implementation of Liberalism in Portugal. The works undertaken to that effect became official in 1789 and continued on an intermittent basis until 1830, focusing on the suppression of a large number of religious houses. We will analyse within the framework of this process the observations made to the historical and artistic heritage of the orders. We will highlight the way it anticipated and somehow contributed to the events resulting from the definitive extinction of the regulars during the first years the Liberal Portugal.