Boaventura (parish)

Despite all our efforts, the origin of this parish’s name has remained entirely unknown to us. If we were at least to establish its probable origin, it would be necessary to determine precisely the true spelling of this strange name, and this seems to us to present no small difficulty. Boaventura or Boa Ventura? We cannot say, because the name appears written in both forms. The first seems to be the older and is undoubtedly the more common and usual, but we know of no particular reason to prefer either of them. We can only lose ourselves in mere conjecture or in more or less ingenious hypotheses, which may well be far removed from the truth.

Nothing about the origin of this name is recorded in the parish archive of this parish (freguesia), in any old documents or even in local tradition. Was there perhaps some village (lugar, settlement rank below a town) or settlement on the mainland whose name the first colonists borrowed, as often happened, to give it to that locality (sítio), which later became a parish? The hypothesis would be no more than a mere possibility, and one without the slightest foundation, since, according to the investigations we have carried out, there is no parish, locality or village in Portugal that bears that name.

The lands that make up the parish of Boaventura belonged for almost three centuries to the parish of Ponta Delgada (‘slender point’), from which they were separated in 1836. Boaventura has borne this name since the middle of the 16th century, and even before that time, and therefore long before the creation of the curacy (curato) and before it became an independent parish. In the early days of colonisation, Pedro Gomes Galdo was one of the first settlers to hold extensive lands there by sesmaria (royal land grant to settlers on condition of cultivation). He is regarded as one of the earliest colonists of this parish, which at that time, as already stated, belonged to the parish of Ponta Delgada. The foundation of the chantry (capela) of São Cristóvão (St Christopher), in the locality that still bears this name today, is attributed to this Pedro Galdo or to one of his descendants.

As the population grew and spread inland, the inhabitants of Boaventura sought the creation of a curacy (curato) that would make it easier for them to carry out their religious duties. They took advantage of the stay of the diocesan bishop, Dom Manuel Coutinho, at the parish church of Ponta Delgada to put before the prelate the distance at which they lived from the mother church (igreja matriz), the difficulty of the paths, above all in the winter season, and the grave dangers to which they were exposed. Since the reasons given by the petitioners were entirely acceptable, the prelate ordered the parish priest of the time, Luís Gonçalves Caldeira, to apply for the creation of a curacy in the parish (freguesia) of Ponta Delgada, based in Boaventura.

By royal decree (alvará régio) of 4 February 1733, John V authorised the diocesan prelate to create this curacy. We do not know when it was finally filled, nor what jurisdiction or powers were conferred on it. In the meantime it remained dependent on the parish of Ponta Delgada, from which it gradually freed itself until it became an independent parish. Baptisms began to be performed there in 1790, but marriages were celebrated in Boaventura only after its elevation to a parish. The seat of the curacy was the chapel of Santa Quitéria (St Quiteria), built by the people in 1731. The curates lived there permanently and gave spiritual assistance to the inhabitants of the place, though some acts of worship were celebrated in the mother church of Ponta Delgada. Under the said decree of 4 February 1733, the curate originally received a stipend (côngrua) of one and a half moios (dry measure of grain, 60 alqueires) of wheat and one and a half pipas (wine cask and measure, c. 400–500 litres) of wine; this stipend was later increased.

The governor of the diocese (governador do bispado, administering the see in the bishop's absence) and vicar capitular (administrator of the vacant diocese elected by the chapter), António Alfredo de Santa Catarina Braga, raised the curacy of Boaventura to a parish by decree of 18 November 1836, freeing it entirely from the jurisdiction of the parish of Ponta Delgada. The priests who served there continued for some time to call themselves curates, but this curacy, like others that existed in the diocese, was autonomous, with its own civil and religious life and no dependence on any other parish. The prior (title of the parish priest) and parish priest was Joaquim Gomes Lume, and the first collated vicar (vigário colado, permanently instituted in the benefice) was Francisco José Rodrigues de Andrade, in 1843.

As already mentioned, the curacy was established in the chapel of Santa Quitéria, built in 1731. It was enlarged, or rather rebuilt, in 1835, and became the seat of the new parish created the following year. It stands in the locality (sítio) of Serrão, the most central and most pleasant spot in the parish. The image of St Quiteria was given to the church of Ponta Delgada in 1721 by Manuel de Freitas Vasconcelos, a resident of Funchal, and was taken to the new chapel shortly after it was built. Boaventura had the chapels of São Cristóvão and Sant'Ana, which no longer exist, and in 1918 work began on a chapel in the locality of Fajã do Penedo, dedicated to the Immaculate Heart. We shall deal with them in the articles devoted to chapels.

The parish has several levadas (irrigation channels): the levadas of Achada (‘plateau’) Grande, built mainly through the efforts of Policarpo José de Abreu and Manuel João de Freitas Galdo; the Levada Grande (‘great channel’), whose irrigation extends as far as Ponta Delgada; the Levada das Faias (‘faya-tree channel’), which owes much of its course to João Pedro de Andrade; the Levada da Achada dos Alves e Pastel, whose construction was begun by the same Policarpo José de Abreu; and also the levada of Achada or of Serrão. All of them rise in the Ribeira dos Moinhos (‘mills’). As we have already said in the article devoted to the parish of Arco de São Jorge (‘arc of São Jorge’), many years ago a levada was planned that would draw its water from the Ribeira do Porco, at the locality (sítio) of Falca, and serve to irrigate both parishes; the necessary surveys and estimates were even carried out at the beginning of the last quarter of the 19th century. It never went beyond the planning stage, although Canon Feliciano João Teixeira, deputy for Madeira, championed the idea in parliament during the legislative session of 1890.

On the road linking this parish with that of Arco de São Jorge, there is a stretch on the right bank of the Ribeira do Porco, overlooking the sea, known as Engrosa because it winds its way along the sheer face of a high cliff. From the cracks in this cliff grows in abundance the plant known as ensaião (Sempervivum glandulosum, of the family Crassulaceae), of which William Longman wrote the following in Frazer's Magazine of August 1875: ‘...they grow in such profusion that they overlap one another, and reach such a size that they surpass anything of the kind to be seen at Kew or in other botanical gardens. The commonest ones are larger than a hat. At the edges they are a reddish-brown colour, shading gradually to a light green at the centre’.

At the locality of São Cristóvão there was once a small tile works. The tiles were made from a dense, reddish clay found nearby, which gave a very hard-wearing product that the salt air did not damage in the least. We have read somewhere that ‘...other kinds of clay are to be seen interbedded with the basalts, some of them whitish in colour, which could be used to advantage in the ceramics industry’.

The Lício family, holders of the entail (morgado) of Lagos, had entailed lands (terras vinculadas) in this parish, and in the locality (sítio) of Silveira (‘bramble patch’) they built a large house, which was never entirely finished. It was with the factor (feitor) of these holders of the entail and of these lands, who lived in Boaventura, that the following interesting and picturesque incident is said to have occurred. General Beresford had arrived in Madeira in December 1807, in command of the British troops that occupied Madeira for the second time. All the authorities and commissioned officers went to pay their respects to the English general. Colonel Lício, holder of the entail, could be no exception to the rule: he commanded the militia regiment of São Vicente (‘St Vincent’) and was then staying on his lands at Boaventura. The factor, who happened to be in Funchal and was the lieutenant adjutant of that regiment, persuaded the lady of the entail (morgada), Colonel Lício’s wife, that it would be wise to spare her husband the discomforts of a journey. He put forward the sensible suggestion that he himself should don the colonel’s uniform and present himself to the English general as the commander of the militia regiment of the town (vila) of São Vicente! The idea, promptly conceived and accepted without reluctance by the lady of the entail, was put into effect without delay by the good and simple-minded factor. When Beresford learnt that before him stood a raw adjutant disguised as a colonel, he curtly uttered what were perhaps the only words of Portuguese he then knew: ‘Para o Pico’ (To the Pico). And off went our poor lieutenant and factor, led under guard to the Pico fortress (Fortaleza do Pico), no doubt cursing the hour he had the unhappy idea of donning the uniform belonging to his chief, the owner of the lands he managed. As he turned his back on General Beresford, however, he came out with a phrase that became famous and, to some extent, immortalised him in local tradition. When he realised the mistake he had made, he let slip, half rueful and half ironic, this inspired remark: ‘I could see straight away this would end in a blunder!’ That was the epilogue to his sad and unfortunate adventure.

The main localities of this parish are: Igreja, Pastel, Pomar, Ribeira do Moinho, Roçada, Cabo da Ribeira, Achada do Castanheiro, Levada, Lombadinha, São Cristóvão, Serrão, Achada do Pereira, Travessa, Achada Grande, Falca, Achada da Madeira, Lombo do Urzal, Serra de Água, Quebradas, Lamaceiros, Achada do Moledo, Fajã do Penedo, Fajã Grande, Sabugueiros and Silveira. The parish is crossed by the Porco and Moinhos streams. At the mouth of the former lies the beach of the small landing place known as Porto da Boaventura, where boats anchor and where coastal steamers land cargo and passengers.

This parish belongs to the municipality (concelho) and judicial district (comarca) of São Vicente, whose seats lie approximately 9 and a half kilometres away. It borders the parishes of Arco de São Jorge, Ponta Delgada, São Vicente and Curral das Freiras.

There are two schools, one for each sex, both in the locality of Igreja. Father António Alexandrino de Vasconcelos, whom we have already mentioned in the article on the parish of Arco de São Jorge, was born in this parish. When the great poet Antero de Quental was in Madeira some years ago, he spent a period in the parish of Boaventura. Its population is 3,900 inhabitants. The well-known Serra das Torrinhas lies within the parish (see that entry).