Mother of God (chapels)
Original title: Madre de Deus (Capelas da)
Describes three Madeiran chapels dedicated to Our Lady Mother of God: a sixteenth-century Manueline chapel at Caniço, a chapel at Tabua rebuilt after a flood, and a chapel at Estreito de Câmara de Lobos built in 1705.
This is a small church in the typical Manueline style, which makes it of particular interest to visitors, especially for certain details of its construction. It stands in the parish (freguesia) of Caniço (‘reed’), in the locality (sítio) to which it gave its name. It was built in the 16th century and is said to have been founded by a Salvago family, who held land there as a sesmaria (royal land grant to settlers on condition of cultivation). Services are still held in it, and it belongs (1921) to the heirs of João Maurício de Gouveia.
There is a chapel with the same dedication in the parish of Tabua (‘bulrush’), better known by the name of Mãe de Deus. We do not know the year it was built, but we know that around the middle of the 18th century it was completely destroyed by the violent current of the nearby stream. It was rebuilt around 1767 on the other bank of the stream, on a safer site, and was inspected on 9 December of the same year so that divine services could be celebrated there. A papal brief of 22 May 1781 grants a plenary indulgence to those who visit this chapel on the first Sunday of May.
In 1705 Inácio Uzadamor do Rêgo and his wife had a chapel built in the parish of Estreito de Câmara de Lobos, dedicated to Nossa Senhora da Madre de Deus (Our Lady Mother of God) and to the wonder-worker St Anthony; the licence for its blessing is dated 5 December of that year.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 03-
Licence was granted to bless the new Madre de Deus chapel at Estreito de Câmara de Lobos.
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The Mother of God chapel at Corujeira, Tabua, destroyed by flood, was rebuilt on the opposite bank and inspected for divine service on 9 December 1767.
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A papal brief granted plenary indulgence to visitors of the Madre de Deus chapel at Tabua on the first Sunday of May.
Place
Places mentioned · 04- Madre de Deus · Subject
Santa Cruz. Locality at Caniço named after the chapel.
Madre de Deus is a locality at Caniço, Madeira, named after its sixteenth-century Manueline chapel of Our Lady Mother of God. It is recorded as the site near which Garcia Homem de Sousa built a tower, though the identity of that site is uncertain.
- Caniço
Santa Cruz. Parish containing the Manueline Madre de Deus chapel.
Caniço is a parish in the municipality of Santa Cruz, lying on the boundary between the captaincies of Funchal and Machico. Its early settlers included Gaspar Rego, Vasco Fernandes Rego and Álvaro de Ornelas, whose family founded morgados there; its alcaide and judge were appointed by the Funchal senate. The parish includes the Garajau statue, the Jesuits' Socorro residence and the Quinta do Barão da Conceição.
- Estreito de Câmara de Lobos
Câmara de Lobos. Parish where a Madre de Deus chapel was built in 1705.
Estreito de Câmara de Lobos is a parish in the municipality of Câmara de Lobos, Madeira, created in the early sixteenth century around the chapel of Nossa Senhora da Graça. It was the main centre of rye-straw hat weaving and cheese-making, grows Sercial, Verdelho, Tinta and Bastardo, and became a julgado of the Funchal comarca in 1927.
- Tabua
Ribeira Brava. Parish with the chapel known as Mãe de Deus.
Tabua is a parish on Madeira that belonged to Ponta do Sol from 1835 to 1914 and was then transferred to the new municipality of Ribeira Brava. It is crossed by the Ribeira da Tabua and irrigated by the Lombo do Moiro levada and, since 1908, by the Monte Medonho levada. Early settlers included Rui Vaz Uzel and Rui Vaz de Medeiros; the parish's tithes went to the Jesuits, and it was devastated by floods in 1856.
People
People mentioned · 02-
Built, with his wife, the chapel of Nossa Senhora da Madre de Deus and Santo António at Estreito de Câmara de Lobos in 1705.
- João Maurício de Gouveiab. 1880
His heirs owned the Madre de Deus chapel at Caniço in 1921.