Retreat House of the Good Jesus

This recolhimento (religious retreat house for women) was known as Bom Jesus da Ribeira because the ground on which it was built stretched as far as the left bank of the Ribeira de Santa Luzia (‘St Lucy’). Its founder was Dr Simão Gonçalves Cidrão, archdeacon of Funchal Cathedral (the Sé) (Sé do Funchal), who made it important grants. With a number of donations, and above all with the valuable help of Father Pascoal Ferreira de Sousa, chapel master of the Cathedral, he succeeded in building that modest religious house and the church attached to it, which was later considerably enlarged.

The first deed of grant of certain properties for the foundation of this recolhimento, made by Simão Gonçalves Cidrão, is dated 20 December 1655. Building work began in that same year or the next. It seems that the first women did not enter the house until 1666. This leads us to suppose either that the building took a long time to complete or that difficulties, unknown to us, prevented the recolhimento from opening. On 9 October 1673 further grants were made to the house by the same Archdeacon Dr Cidrão or by his heirs.

The recolhimento was intended to take in 25 to 30 lay sisters, a number that included some poor maidens who could prove that their conduct was blameless. From the outset the women gave proof of the strictest observance of their rule or statutes, and became an entirely exemplary community. This led many people of austere life to seek admission to that religious institution. Although it was not a monastic order, the daily choir service was held there and other practices proper to convents of nuns were observed.

We do not know whether the original discipline and fervour were always maintained there over the course of time. We do know, however, that for many years now the house has been a purely secular recolhimento, with no obligation on the women living there to observe any acts of a religious character.

The recolhimento of Bom Jesus was approved by Bishop Dom Gabriel de Almeida, who governed this diocese from March 1671 until his death on 13 July 1674. It was therefore within this period that the house acquired its canonical and legal existence, and it may be presumed that its foundation was preceded by a licence from the diocesan authority. We have record that, at a date we cannot determine, some of the recolhidas (women living in a religious retreat house) asked the Holy See for permission to take vows and thus turn the recolhimento into a regular religious congregation. This permission was refused, for reasons unknown to us.

According to its founder’s intentions, the recolhimento of Bom Jesus was subject solely to the prelate of the diocese, both in its internal direction and in the administration of its property. It was the ecclesiastical authority that appointed the chaplain of the house and an administrator of its property, who was known as the syndic (síndico, lay agent managing a religious house’s property) and was always a person of integrity and standing.

Despite the donations of Dr Cidrão, the recolhimento had no great resources, and so from a certain time onwards a dowry of 300 escudos was required for the admission of each recolhida. At the beginning of the 19th century this was raised to 400,000 réis (old Portuguese money of account; 1$000 = 1,000 réis, 1:000$000 = one conto = 1,000,000 réis).

In 1811 the income of the house was 1,367,000 réis and its expenditure 2,007,000 réis. In the same year it had 42 recolhidas.

Since 1910 the recolhimento has been administered and run by a commission appointed by the civil governor. The commission that relinquished the administration of the house in April 1919 handed over 437.15 escudos to its successor, while the bonds belonging to the recolhimento yielded 931.11 escudos a year.