Misericórdias

It seems that the idea of founding a hospital here arose shortly after the colonisation of this island began. It was the discoverer himself, João Gonçalves Zarco, who by public deed of 25 March 1454 granted some land beside the chapel of St Paul for the building of the new hospital. The building, which was paid for by the people, was not constructed until 1469. The hospital operated there for roughly fifteen years and was transferred to the parish (freguesia) of Santa Maria Maior (‘St Mary Major’) around 1484. The new foundation was built on land belonging to Álvaro Afonso, who gave it for this purpose in 1483 on condition that the hospital should have six beds for poor patients.

By virtue of a papal bull obtained from Pope Alexander VI permitting the foundation of a new hospital on this island, King Manuel I ordered, by royal letter (carta régia) of 25 May 1507, the construction of a building specially intended for that purpose, on land belonging to one Bartolomeu Malheiro. It is presumed that the old hospital was incorporated into the new foundation and that this was built on the same site, in the street that still bears the name Hospital Velho. However, in an old register of visitation orders (livro de provimentos) of the parish church of Nossa Senhora do Calhau (Our Lady of Calhau, ‘pebble shore’), we find the following passages, which quite clearly refer to two hospitals, though perhaps housed in adjoining buildings and forming, as it were, a single establishment: ‘The Vicar and Beneficiaries of Nossa Senhora do Calhau shall hold and regard as their parishioners those persons who are taken into the old hospital as incurables, and when they die… shall accompany them to the grave…, and they shall do the same with those who die in the new hospital…’. It is not easy to determine with complete precision when work on the new building was completed, but it cannot have been much after 1515, for in a royal letter of 4 June of that year Manuel I pressed for the works to be finished, ordering the proceeds of the wine tax to be applied to them until they were entirely completed. We read in an old nobiliary (book of noble genealogies) that the bachelor (bacharel, university graduate) João Fernandes de Amil was charged by the monarch with directing the foundation and construction of the new hospital. Nothing is known about the running of this establishment in the early years of its existence, particularly as regards the number of patients, its own revenues, the meeting of its expenses, the form of its administration, etc., for no record of any kind on the subject can be found.

Gaspar Frutuoso, referring to the new premises, says the following, perhaps with some exaggeration: ‘The House of the Misericórdia has rich workshops, and many alms and works of charity are done in it by the presidents and brethren, who cure many sick people and relieve many poor and needy, not only of this island but also those who come to it from various parts and voyages, for it is rich, well provided and compassionate, a port of call and refuge for all’. These words were written in 1590, and 45 years earlier, in a lengthy and well-argued petition addressed to the monarch on 8 March 1645 by the President (provedor) and Brethren of the Holy House (Santa Casa, the Misericórdia), they had protested against the hospital remaining ‘in the worst site in the city’, citing the smallness of the building, the nearness of the stream, the cramped church, the lack of space for burials and many other drawbacks that caused ‘many patients to die’. In the register of visitation orders cited above, the church authorities also advised moving the hospital to another building, stating there that the chantries (capela) of the Espírito Santo and of the Chagas in the parish church lay beneath the floor of the Holy House of Mercy (Santa Casa da Misericórdia), so that the cries and groans of the patients could be heard inside the church, especially when they underwent some operation or particularly painful treatment.

A warrant (provisão) of John IV, dated 20 April 1654, ordered the juiz de fora (crown-appointed judge from outside the district) of Funchal to inquire into the petition of the President and Brethren of the Misericórdia (Holy House of Mercy, a lay charitable brotherhood) and to have an estimate made of the works concerned, consulting for this purpose the officers of the Council.

Earlier, in 1612 and 1638, the Holy House of Mercy (Misericórdia) of Funchal had petitioned Philip II and Philip III for authorisation and aid to build the new hospital. Those monarchs ordered various inquiries, but none of these proceedings brought the Holy House the slightest benefit.

On 9 November 1682 the Prince Regent, later Peter II, issued a warrant granting alms of 5,000 cruzados, but the works began only later.

On 22 July 1685, in the presence of the Governor and Captain-General of Madeira, Pedro de Lima Brandão, who was serving as president of the Holy House (Santa Casa, the Misericórdia), plots of land were leased under quit-rent (foro) on the Terreiro da Sé (Cathedral Square), as the area now occupied by the Largo da Sé, the Avenida do Dr Arriaga and the adjoining streets was then called. The aim was to build there a large building that would meet the needs of the Misericórdia of Funchal. (See Diário de Notícias (‘Daily News’), 21 to 27 October 1896.)

This land consisted partly of a kitchen garden belonging to Captain Luís de Atouguia da Costa, and it adjoined his dwelling house. Under the deed drawn up on that same day, 22 July 1685, the Holy House was bound to pay an annual quit-rent of 12$00 réis (old Portuguese money of account; 1$000 = 1,000 réis, 1:000$000 = one conto = 1,000,000 réis) for the land on the Terreiro da Sé.

Only after 1686 did building work on the new house of the Misericórdia begin there.

An inspection carried out on 3 April of that year, to draw up the plans and estimate, found that the main works would cost about 8,000,000 réis; it was later recognised that a further forty thousand cruzados would be needed to finish them completely. The work seems to have proceeded rather slowly for lack of funds. Peter II, by a royal decree (alvará) of 9 November 1692, granted 5,000 cruzados for these works, and an order of the Treasury Council (Conselho da Fazenda) dated 19 October 1745 allotted a further 4,000 cruzados to them.

Meanwhile, the sick were gradually admitted to the new building, while construction moved, albeit slowly, towards its final completion.

The hospital remained in the parish (freguesia) of Santa Maria Maior until the end of the 17th century or the beginning of the 18th, when the various hospital services were moved to the buildings they occupy at present (1922). In the entrance hall, above the two doors leading into the interior, are the following inscriptions, which clearly show how slowly the work proceeded: ‘This new entrance was made on 20 June 1788, the president being the Most Illustrious and Most Excellent Lord Governor and Captain-General Dom Diogo Pereira Forjaz Coutinho’; and on the right-hand side: ‘This new entrance to the British infirmary was made on 20 April 1807, the president being Pedro Júlio da Câmara Leme’. On the door of the meeting room one also reads: ‘This new entrance was made in the year 1790, the president being the Most Illustrious and Most Excellent Lord Dom Diogo Pereira Forjaz Coutinho.’

Over time various improvements and additions were made to the building, such as the church, the Recolhimento (religious retreat house for women) das Órfãs and the house for private wards, though we cannot determine when they were built. At the beginning of the 19th century an infirmary was set up especially for British subjects, known as the British Infirmary. It must have closed before 1837, since in that year the new Medical-Surgical School began to operate in it.

What the press of this city has said about the hospital’s appalling sanitary conditions, the poor location of its building and its insufficient capacity to house all the hospital services properly would fill a good-sized volume. These claims contain no small exaggeration, which is not to say that the establishment fully met the modern demands of science. Nevertheless, it may be stated that its sanitary conditions were reasonable, according to the authoritative testimony of several eminent physicians who had visited it. With the major improvements introduced in 1922, these conditions improved markedly, and little more could then have been achieved in the circumstances.

The building is an old one, three centuries in existence, situated in the most central and low-lying part of the city. Its wards, however, are spacious, open and well ventilated, and for the time in which it was built it could be considered one of the best in the country. Indeed, even today few would surpass it in the capacity of its various departments, provided the number of patients housed there does not exceed sixty (1922).

We are, however, of the opinion that the hospital should be moved to a site and a building whose sanitary conditions fully meet the modern precepts of medical science. For many decades the press has advocated this move, citing the reasons briefly set out above. The Lazareto, Marmeleiros and the former convents (conventos) of the Incarnação and the Convent of St Clare (Santa Clara) were put forward as the preferred places for housing the hospital, once the necessary conversion work had been carried out. Among the proposals made, those considered best and most fully suited to the desired purpose were to build new buildings in the convent grounds of the Incarnação and the Convent of St Clare, reusing only some of the materials of the old, ruined monasteries. The authoritative opinion of the doctors confirmed the public’s preference for the site of the Convent of St Clare. A committee made up of Drs Nuno Silvestre Teixeira, Fortunato Pita, João Francisco de Almada, José Joaquim de Freitas and José Joaquim Mendes gave its opinion, in a long and well-argued report, that the new hospital building should be erected within the precinct of the Convent of St Clare, and it rejected the buildings of the Lazareto and Marmeleiros as unsuitable for that purpose. (See the Diário do Comercio for January 1910.)

The decree of 31 October 1912 ceded the former Convent of St Clare to the Holy House of Mercy, except for the church, the land needed to widen the streets bordering the convent, and the land already ceded to the Auxílio Maternal association. The decree of 22 September 1913 confirmed the cession made to the Misericórdia by the decree of 31 October 1912 for the building of the hospital, and introduced some changes to the way the land and buildings were to be divided among the Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal), the Auxílio Maternal and the Holy House of Mercy. The board of the Auxílio Maternal proposed to the Council that it cede the land it held within the precinct of the convent and grounds of St Clare, subject to certain conditions. Those bodies and the Administrative Committee (Comissão Administrativa) of the Holy House then decided to set down the terms of their agreement in a public deed, which was done on 3 March 1916.

In April 1922 the Committee of the Holy House petitioned the central government for the land that the former Agricultural Board (Junta Agrícola) had held at the locality (sítio) of Louros, on the Lazareto road, in order to build there the pavilions and other facilities for a modern hospital meeting present-day standards of hygiene.

The Confraternity of the Misericórdia of Funchal was established by royal letter (carta régia) of 1514, according to a record we found in the archive of this institution. By another royal letter, of 18 September of the same year, the hospital was annexed and handed over to the said Confraternity, under whose supervision and administration all the hospital services were placed, ‘provided that the poor and sick who come to the said hospital are always provided for’. The Confraternity was installed in the parish church of Santa Maria Maior, which adjoined the hospital. The annotator of ‘Longing for the Homeland’ states that John III revoked this concession made by Manuel I, and adds the following: ‘we presume that from then on it functioned in the chapel of the Santos Reis, near the hospital, which had been donated to it in the year 1514’.

Over time the Confraternity was granted various exemptions and privileges, which contributed greatly to its growth and prosperity. Thus, by the royal letter of 23 August 1605 and by other later enactments, the Confraternity may use all the privileges granted to the Misericórdia of Lisbon, in cases where the provisions of those enactments can apply in this archipelago. The royal decree (alvará) of 8 June 1740 extended for ten years the privilege of collecting the alms from the tithes of ‘kids, young chickens, eggs, milk, cheese, lambs and pigeons’ in the jurisdiction of Funchal and in the towns of Ponta do Sol and Calheta. A royal letter dated 22 August 1734 allowed the Confraternity to have its own notary’s office for all the contracts it concluded. The religious services of the Confraternity and the Hospital were exempted from the jurisdiction of the prelate by royal letter of 27 March 1767, and placed under the direct authority of the chief chaplain.

The Misericórdia of Funchal was run as a brotherhood from its foundation until 1834, that is, for the long period of 320 years. We have no detailed knowledge of that administration, but it can be said that in those three centuries our first charitable institution was created, developed and prospered. The last 80 or 90 years of management by administrative committees, on the other hand, added nothing new to the greatness and prosperity of the Holy House of Mercy (Santa Casa da Misericórdia), although some of those committees rendered notable and disinterested services to this charitable establishment.

Between 1514 and 1834 the Misericórdia of Funchal had 300 presidents (provedores), some of whom marked their tenure with far-reaching measures and highly effective administration. Prominent among them were the bishop of this diocese, Dom Luís de Figueiredo e Lemos, in the late 16th and early 17th centuries; the governor and captain-general Francisco da Costa Freire, founder of the Recolhimento das Órfãs, in the second quarter of the 18th century; the governor and captain-general Dom Diogo Pereira Forjaz Coutinho, in the last quarter of the same century; and the diocesan bishop Dom Joaquim de Meneses e Ataíde, in the first quarter of the 19th century. Large painted portraits of the last two presidents hang in the meeting room of the Administrative Committee (Comissão Administrativa).

The oldest statutes (compromisso) of this Misericórdia were modelled on the regulations (regimento) of that of Lisbon. However, the royal letter of Philip III of 22 March 1631 approved separate statutes for our Holy House (Santa Casa, the Misericórdia), which remained in force for many years. It was a skilfully drafted document, dealing at length with every matter concerning the life of the Holy House. It was printed in 1943, simply as a piece of historical documentation, in a pamphlet of 46 pages.

We do not know when the statutes of 1631 were revised, but we know that the president Dom Joaquim de Meneses e Ataíde drew up new regulations in 1801, which were confirmed by royal warrant (provisão) of 19 October 1819. These regulations, said to be a work of great merit for their time, were printed in 1820 under the title Regimento ou Regulamento do Hospital Real de Santa Isabel da Cidade do Funchal, Ilha da Madeira, sendo provedor da mesma Santa Casa o excelentissimo e reverendissimo senhor Bispo Vigario Apostolico D. Frei Joaquim de Menezes e Athaide.

In 1906 the old Confraternity of the Misericórdia of Funchal was restored, its statutes being approved by a decree of the civil governor José Ribeiro da Cunha dated 30 April of the same year. On 17 May following, the Managing Board (Mesa Gerente), elected every two years, was chosen, with Canon António Homem de Gouveia as its first president. A few days after the proclamation of the Republic, contrary to what was done with all or almost all the Misericórdias in the country, the civil governor of the district dissolved the Confraternity of this city and appointed an Administrative Committee to manage the affairs of the Holy House.

As we said above, the rule of the confraternities in the administration of the Misericórdia ended in 1834. Management then passed to Administrative Committees appointed by the chief authority of the district, which exposed the administration to the hazards of party passions and to the swings of factional parish-pump politics, one of the greatest ills of our land.

The political events that had taken place in the country and the absence from the island of many members of the confraternity prevented the election of its managing board (mesa) in July 1834. The prefect (prefeito) of this province, Luís da Silva Mousinho de Albuquerque, by decree of 16 August that year, appointed a committee to examine the accounts of the Holy House, study the causes of its decline during the period of our civil wars and propose means of remedying it. Following the committee’s recommendations, he then ordered by decree of 8 November 1834 that, on a provisional basis and until the central government reached a final decision on the matter, the Funchal Municipal Council should appoint an Administrative Committee of five members to manage the affairs of the Holy House from 1 January 1835, and that the appointment of three members should be renewed at the start of each year. He also ordered that the Council should propose six suitable persons, from whom the prefect would choose three to form a committee charged with settling the Holy House’s overdue accounts and collecting all debts owed to the establishment.

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Since it was recognised that the Administrative Committee (Comissão Administrativa) and the Liquidating Committee were incompatible,’ we read in the statutes (compromisso) published in 1906, ‘the latter was dissolved by the prefect (prefeito) of the province by royal decree (alvará) of 4 May 1835. The Administrative Committee then ran the affairs of the Holy House (Santa Casa, the Misericórdia) entirely under new regulations (regimento), which had been approved and put into force by the governor Luís da Silva Mousinho de Albuquerque by royal decree of 8 November 1834. These regulations were printed in 1840, and the Misericórdia was administered under them until 1843.

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A ministerial order (portaria) of the Ministry of the Kingdom (reino, i.e. mainland Portugal) of 9 August 1838 declared that the administration of the Holy House belonged to the elected board (mesa) in accordance with its statutes (and that, if it had none, it should be governed by those of the Misericórdia of Lisbon). That administration did not fall to any committee unless the board had been dissolved, in which case an interim committee would be appointed until a new board was elected.

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In view of so clear a ruling, the Administrative Committee was relieved of its duties, at its own request, on 27 October 1838. The administrator-general (administrador geral) appointed an interim committee, which was to manage the affairs of the Holy House in accordance with the provisions of the regulations drawn up in 1834 and approved on 8 November of that year.

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On 19 October 1839 the administrator-general ordered the committee of the Holy House to draw up a draft of definitive regulations, to be submitted to the central government for approval. The committee carried out this task, presenting the basis for new regulations on 29 April 1839. On this occasion the Administrative Committee gave its opinion on how the affairs of the Misericórdia should be managed. It favoured the committee system, while recognising the need to appoint a senior official who would be responsible for the direct supervision of all the services of the Holy House, under the direction of the Administrative Committee.

This draft of the regulations was not approved, but it served as the basis for the draft sent to the government by the administrator-general on 3 January 1842, which was provisionally approved by ministerial order of 13 February 1843.

In 1854 the District General Council (Junta Geral) petitioned the government for the restoration of the old confraternity, convinced that this system would bring the Holy House a new era of prosperity. Consulted on the matter, the Administrative Committee took the view that reorganising the old confraternity was inadvisable and that the established system of administrative committees should remain.

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Although provisional in character, the administrative system of committees appointed by the senior authority of the district was now established, and it remained in force until the beginning of 1906, even though other attempts were made to restore the old brotherhood or confraternity of the Misericórdia.

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By virtue of a ministerial order of the Ministry of the Kingdom of 23 April 1855, the civil governor of the district appointed a committee to propose to the Confraternity of the Misericórdia of Funchal amendments to its statutes, based on the provisions of the statutes of the Misericórdia of Lisbon. The results of any work this committee may have carried out are not known.

Although the administration and direction of the affairs of the Holy House of Mercy (Santa Casa da Misericórdia) lay entirely with the administrative committees, the members of the old confraternity were nevertheless convened in 1869. They met on 15 December of that year to give their opinion on whether the property owned by the Misericórdia should be converted into bonds of the Public Credit Board (Junta de Crédito Público). This was a measure of great importance, and the committee concerned, knowing itself to be a provisional administrative body, did not wish to bear alone the consequences and serious responsibilities of such a step. At this meeting, attended by 13 brethren while 17 stayed away, the confraternity gave its last sign of life.

In 1885 the Administrative Committee, in an official letter to the head of the district, acknowledged the need to reorganise the old brotherhood, and in 1888 the civil governor likewise recognised the same need.

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In that year the head of the district, who was then the Viscount of Canavial, carried out a thorough study of the administration of the Holy House and wrote an interesting and detailed memorandum on the subject. In accordance with this study, and with the aim of improving the position of the Misericórdia, he drew up new regulations, approved by royal decree of 10 March 1888 and put into force on the 14th of that month. These regulations created the post of Director-General, who, under the direct authority of the Administrative Committee, oversaw all the services of the hospital.

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These regulations remained in force only until 25 March, so that the affairs of the Holy House were run under them for the brief period of just eleven days.

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On 17 December 1901 the civil governor of the district approved new regulations, which began to be applied on 2 January of the following year. Under them the internal running of the hospital was entrusted to the Franciscan Sisters of Mary, who entered the Misericórdia on that same 2 January. On 18 June of the same year, the regulations of 17 December 1901 having been suspended, the sisters left the hospital service.

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On 13 March 1894, 16 citizens, among them the members of the then Administrative Committee of the Holy House, applied to the civil governor of the district for approval of draft statutes under which the old confraternity of the Misericórdia would be restored and the internal services of the hospital handed over to nursing sisters. The head of the district, not wishing to decide the matter of the petition himself, sent a lengthy report on the subject to the Ministry of the Kingdom on 21 March of that year. He received a reply dated 22 May following, which laid down that the old confraternity could be reorganised, provided certain legal formalities were observed.',

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It was on the strength of this reply from the Ministry of the Kingdom that some years later, on 22 February 1905, the civil governor sent an official letter to the municipal administrator (administrador do concelho, the government’s representative) of Funchal, ordering that the brethren of the old confraternity be summoned so that, together with those admitted by the Administrative Committee, they should constitute themselves within 15 days, on pain of the confraternity being abolished, in accordance with the Administrative Code then in force.

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Once the period set in the public notice (edital) had expired, and since none of the former brethren answered the summons – all of them having already died – a petition from 28 citizens asking to be admitted to the confraternity was laid before the Administrative Commission on 11 March 1905, and the request was granted at once.

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The confraternity having been deemed extinct and this having been reported to the Ministry of the Kingdom, the ministerial order (portaria) of 8 February 1906 was issued. It re-established the Confraternity of the Misericórdia of Funchal and brought to an end the rule of the Administrative Commissions, which had lasted for a period of 62 years, from 1834 to 1906’.

The affairs of the Holy House have been administered with varying fortune over the long span of four centuries, and we have detailed knowledge only of the period from 1812 to 1885, through the study by the Count of Canavial referred to above. At the end of 1834, that is, shortly after the civil wars had ended, the institution possessed a capital of approximately eighty contos (one million réis) de réis, which yielded an annual interest of four contos de réis. To this was added an income of two contos de réis from rural and urban properties, making a total income of about six contos de réis. Expenditure in the two preceding years, however, had exceeded seventeen contos, so that there was an annual deficit of more than two contos de réis. At the same period the Holy House had a debt of more than six contos de réis and uncollected revenues worth thirty contos. Eighteen years later, that is, in 1852, the financial position of this charitable establishment had worsened considerably. Its capital had fallen to 66 contos de réis and its debts amounted to some five contos, while uncollected revenues stood at 54 contos. In 1872 the hospital’s economic position improved markedly, thanks to the genuine zeal shown in its administration in the preceding years, and revenue was brought into balance with expenditure, which that year amounted to some twelve contos de réis.

We do not have the information to discuss in detail the administration of the Holy House in more recent years, but we cannot fail to mention the administrations of 1897 to 1900 and of 1906 to 1910, under the direction of Councillor (conselheiro, honorary title of the royal council) Manuel José Vieira and Canon António Homem de Gouveia, during which the affairs of this charitable establishment were conducted with the most scrupulous zeal and with the most fruitful results.

We would be guilty of an unforgivable omission if we did not record here the act of the highest benevolence performed by Henrique Vieira de Castro, a banker of this city, who offered the Holy House the substantial sum of four hundred contos to found a ward devoted exclusively to the treatment of cancerous diseases. That benevolent gentleman had suggested, though not imposed, that the ward would best be staffed by Portuguese hospital sisters. That alone was enough for the administrative committee then in office to refuse the offer, thus depriving the hospital of so important a donativo (nominally a ‘gift’ to the Crown; a compulsory war levy).

The same gentleman became chairman of the Administrative Committee (Comissão Administrativa) of the Holy House in January 1922 and at once opened a large public subscription, which raised more than three hundred contos; he himself launched it with a contribution of 30 contos. He has devoted himself tirelessly to the administration of the hospital, to which he is rendering, and will certainly continue to render, the most outstanding and notable services. (1922).

The foregoing brief account of the history of the Misericórdia of Funchal goes no further than 1926. From the following year, however, a series of favourable circumstances arose that made it possible to carry out the most important improvements and to bring inestimable prosperity to this benevolent institution, of which we shall now give a brief account.

In 1927 the Managing Board (Mesa Gerente) of the Holy House (Santa Casa, the Misericórdia) began a tenacious, persistent and intelligently directed campaign to obtain from the central government the cession of the Marmeleiros Sanatorium building, with its adjoining land, water and other rights, so that the various hospital services could be properly installed there. This was achieved by the Decree of 29 March 1928, a date that deserves to be recorded as one of the most memorable in the history of the Misericórdia, for it marks the greatest benefit the institution has received in its already long existence of four centuries. To complete the building, adapt it suitably to its intended purposes and set up the new and urgently needed services, the Managing Board had to raise a loan of five hundred contos de réis (conto (one million réis)). As a result, our hospital became one of the leading establishments of its kind in our country, according to the authoritative testimony of distinguished physicians who have visited it at length. In 1931 all the hospital services were moved to the new Marmeleiros building, having been housed for 240 years in the old Santa Isabel building, which in 1933 was ceded to the District General Council (Junta Geral do Distrito) for the sum of one thousand five hundred contos de réis.

This most remarkable work on behalf of our foremost charitable institution, which we have set out here only very briefly, is owed to the Managing Board of the Misericórdia under the presidency of the Very Reverend Canon Manuel Francisco Camacho, and above all to this illustrious member of the Madeiran clergy, who spared himself no hardship and no persistent effort to bring to a successful conclusion an undertaking beset with so many and such great difficulties. It is only just to record here the names of General António Teixeira de Aguiar, Dr Carlos de Melo, Dr Oscar Baltazar Gonçalves and Dr João Francisco de Almada, for the pressing and valuable help they gave the Managing Board in achieving so notable an improvement.

Another date, and one of the most memorable in the annals of the Holy House, is 10 August 1940, when various improvements were solemnly inaugurated – the most important carried out in the Marmeleiros building since its acquisition and adaptation for hospital use. A considerable enlargement of the building, with new wards, spacious and well-equipped operating theatres, piped water and drainage, better accommodation for the secretariat and administration, and many other improvements in various parts of the hospital, made it possible to admit a greater number of patients and brought an inestimable improvement to the many complex services performed there. In mentioning this work, remarkable on many counts, two names come unbidden to the tip of our pen: that of the illustrious civil governor José Nosolini Pinto Osorio da Silva Leão and that of the president (provedor) and distinguished churchman Father Jacinto da Conceição Nunes. To the former is owed the procurement of the funds needed for this important improvement, and to the latter the intelligent and tenacious work of initiating, directing and completing it.

A valuable benefit granted to the Holy House was the ministerial order of 10 January 1939, which charged the District General Council and the Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal) with covering the annual ‘deficits’ of this charitable institution, which in 1942 exceeded the very considerable sum of six hundred contos de réis.

As stated above, the regime of the Confraternities of the Misericórdia lasted in Madeira only until 1834, unlike on the Portuguese mainland, where it has continued to the present day. In that year an Administrative Committee (Comissão Administrativa) was appointed for Funchal, which served until the old Confraternity was restored, the latter taking office in 1906. It was short-lived, for it was abolished in 1910 and restored again in 1927, and it continues to the present day to direct all the hospital services with the most ardent zeal and a remarkable spirit of self-denial and sacrifice.

In closing this article, we cannot fail to add to the distinguished gallery of benefactors of the Holy House, briefly mentioned above, the names of the worthy citizens António de Carvalhal Esmeraldo, Bishop Dom Luís Figueiredo de Lemos, the governor and captain-general Dom Diogo Pereira Forjaz Coutinho, Councillor (conselheiro, honorary title of the royal council) Manuel José Vieira and the industrialist Henrique Hinton, who likewise rendered that house of charity outstanding and disinterested services.

Confraternities of the Misericórdia (Holy House of Mercy, a lay charitable brotherhood), each with its attached establishments, were also founded in the towns (vilas) of Calheta, Machico, Santa Cruz and Porto Santo. They still exist, although the scope of their charitable work is very limited.

The Misericórdia of Calheta: – In 1815 the Misericórdia of Funchal sought to add to its own assets the properties and ground rents belonging to the four Misericórdias just mentioned, on the grounds that the sick poor of those places were treated in the city hospital. It petitioned the government of mainland Portugal to this effect, but the petition was not granted, despite the report given by the governor and captain-general Florêncio Correia de Melo. The presidents (provedores) of the rural Misericórdias protested jointly against the claim of the Misericórdia of Funchal. They argued that, although their institutions did not maintain hospitals for lack of means and other local circumstances, they nevertheless supported invalids in suitable houses and performed other acts of charity, and that they should continue to provide the services they were providing, with their own separate and autonomous existence, as they had done until then. From this protest, which was upheld, we quote the following passages, which concern the history of the Misericórdia of Calheta:

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This House of Mercy was established in 1535 by royal decree (alvará); the papal bull was dated 7 October of the same year; and in the year 1569 another royal decree granted it the power to collect its revenues, ground rents and debts by summary process, as for the Royal Treasury (Fazenda Real), its president being the enforcement judge (juiz executor). It has statutes (compromisso) dated from the year 1616, and from its foundation to this day it has maintained poor incurables, whom the House feeds, clothes and cares for decently, as far as its income allows. . .

This pious institution owed its foundation to various noble and distinguished persons of that town. Over time it reached a relatively high degree of prosperity, thanks to the legacies and donations made to it, and the leaseholds it owned were very substantial. Then came the careless management of some of its brotherhoods, the various crises that struck this island, our civil wars, etc., all of which brought about its decline and ruin, and the resources of this establishment are at present reduced to very limited proportions.

From the earliest days of the confraternity it had its own building and chapel, which still exist today, although they have undergone some alterations over the years. It seems that no hospital ever existed there, except perhaps in the period closer to its foundation, which we cannot affirm. Besides the brotherhood’s own religious services, held in its chapel, the House of Mercy served to shelter invalid and incurable people, chiefly drawn from the most distinguished families of that town who had been struck by misfortune or poverty.

In recent years (1921) a more diligent administration succeeded in restoring the whole building, which showed signs of imminent collapse, and some poor people are now housed there and receive an allowance for their keep. The house owns some properties and ground rents, which in 1913 yielded about three hundred escudos (Portuguese currency from 1911, = 1,000 réis).