Clementina (Maria)
Maria Clementina was a nun of the Convent of Santa Clara in Funchal, famed among Madeirans and foreign visitors for her exceptional beauty. Several nineteenth-century travel writers described her, and she died in the convent in 1867.
A nun of the Convent of St Clare (Santa Clara), much admired by Portuguese and foreigners alike for her extraordinary beauty. Henry Nelson Coleridge, in his book Six months in the West Indies in 1826, speaks with enthusiasm of the charms of Maria Clementina, and other foreigners also mention them in the books they published about Madeira.
The author of Rambles in Madeira, who saw Maria Clementina in 1826, tells us that she had fair hair and a captivating expression, a type of beauty uncommon on the island, which explained the admiration the Madeirans felt for it.
In 1854, according to Lady Wortley, the Madeiran nun still revealed in her eyes and finely drawn features ‘how perfect her beauty must have been in the days of her youth’. Maria Clementina was the daughter of Pedro Agostinho de Vasconcelos, and she took her vows in the Convent of St Clare towards the end of the first quarter of the 19th century, to satisfy her father’s wishes. She died in the same convent, aged over 60, on 16 May 1867.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 04-
Maria Clementina professed as a nun at the Convent of Santa Clara to satisfy her father's wishes.
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The author of 'Rambles in Madeira' travelled in Madeira and Portugal and saw Maria Clementina, describing her fair hair and captivating expression.
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Lady Wortley observed that Maria Clementina still showed signs of her former beauty.
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Maria Clementina died in the Convent of Santa Clara, aged over 60.
Place
Places mentioned · 02
- Convent of St Clare
Funchal. The convent where Maria Clementina professed, lived and died.
A convent in Funchal founded in 1492–97 by the second captain-donatary João Gonçalves da Câmara beside the church of Conceição de Cima. It is the burial place of the Câmara family and holds a 1447 document spelling the name 'Zargo'. It was granted in 1912 for a new hospital and was later chosen to house the archaeological museum.
People
People mentioned · 04- Maria Clementinad. 1867
Nun of the Convent of Santa Clara, celebrated by Madeirans and foreign travellers for her beauty; died there aged over 60 in 1867.
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English author of 'Six months in the West Indies in 1825', which praises Maria Clementina's charms.
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Foreign traveller who noted in 1854 that Maria Clementina still showed traces of her youthful beauty.
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Father of Maria Clementina, at whose wish she took the veil at Santa Clara.