Asylum for Invalids
Original title: Asilo dos Inválidos
A short-lived charitable asylum for invalids set up in 1842 in the Misericórdia building in Funchal, funded by the municipal council; the entry also records an unrealised 1844 project for a beggars' asylum.
In 1842 a modest charitable establishment, then given the name of Asylum for Invalids (Asilo dos Inválidos), was set up in some of the ground-floor rooms of the Misericórdia (Holy House of Mercy, a lay charitable brotherhood) building in this city. It was an adjunct of the Holy House of Mercy (Santa Casa da Misericórdia) and was run by its governing bodies, but the asylum had been founded by the Funchal Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal do Funchal). The Council was the official body that paid for the upkeep of the inmates, under a contract concluded between it and the administration of the Holy House (Santa Casa, the Misericórdia). We do not know when it ceased to operate, but its existence was short-lived. Project for a beggars’ asylum. By a royal decree (alvará) of 22 March 1844, the civil governor of the district, Dr Domingos Olavo Correia de Azevedo, appointed a commission, chaired by Dr António da Luz Pita and with Maurício Castelo Branco as secretary, to propose the most suitable means of creating an asylum to house beggars. We do not know what work this commission may have presented, but we do know that the asylum project never became more than a happy and generous idea, and nothing more.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 02Place
Places mentioned · 02
- Funchal
City whose council founded and funded the asylum.
The capital of the archipelago and seat of the principal captaincy, where settlement began; it was made a vila c.1451–52. Its bay, the widest in the archipelago, lies between Ponta do Garajau and Ponta da Cruz and offers sheltered anchorage, though its harbour had never been studied oceanographically. The Elucidário discusses it as a health resort with climate data and records the January 1906 disturbances, the Danish prince's visit in May 1846 and recent volcanic cones in the area.
- Misericórdia of Funchal
Funchal. The asylum occupied ground-floor rooms of this building.
The Misericórdia do Funchal is a building in Funchal that houses the chapel of Santa Isabel, which is reached through its vestibule. The Asilo dos Inválidos occupied rooms on its ground floor.
People
People mentioned · 03- António da Luz Pita1802–1870
Presided over the 1844 commission appointed to propose the creation of an asylum for beggars.
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Civil governor of the Funchal district who in 1844 appointed a commission to plan an asylum for beggars.
- Maurício José de Castelo Brancoc.1842–1910
Secretary of the 1844 commission on a proposed asylum for beggars.