Our Lady of Pity (chapels)

A chapel with this dedication stands in the parish (freguesia) of Caniçal (‘reed bed’), on top of a steep cliff overlooking the sea. Anyone rounding the Ponta de São Lourenço (‘St Lawrence’) at once sees the little chapel gleaming white on the summit of the craggy hill. In former times it had an adjoining house to shelter the devout who came there on pilgrimage. We have read somewhere that, according to tradition, the chapel was built in fulfilment of a vow by sailors who, seeing their ship about to be dashed to pieces on the rocks of the coast, promised to raise a small chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin (Santíssima Virgem) on the crest of the hill. It is also said to have been founded by Garcia Moniz, the first administrator (administrador do concelho, government-appointed head of the municipality) of the entailed estate (morgadio) of Caniçal, or by one of his successors. Many years ago it belonged to the entailed house (casa vinculada) of São Gil (‘St Giles’), whose manor house stood at Calçada (‘paved way’), in the parish of Santa Cruz (‘Holy Cross’).

Every year an unusual religious procession makes its way to this chapel; we have already described it in the article on the parish of Caniçal.

In 1800 Father Manuel Gonçalves Henriques built a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Pity (Nossa Senhora da Piedade) beside his residence in the locality (sítio) of Caldeira (‘cauldron’), in the parish of Câmara de Lobos (‘seals’ den’). He endowed it, in accordance with canon law, by a public deed of 3 April of that year. It is today (1921) the property of Father António Rodrigues Diniz Henriques.

Another chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Pity once stood in the locality called Vargem de Baixo (‘lower meadow’), in the parish of Calheta (‘small cove’). It was built in 1657 by Captain António Moniz de Meneses and his wife, Dona Catarina de Meneses. Within the lands of the entailed estate of Vale da Bica (‘spout valley’), on the Lombada dos Esmeraldos (see that entry), in the parish of Ponta do Sol (‘point of the sun’), at the place called Jangão, a small chapel with the same dedication was built in a year we cannot establish. In 1777 the administrator of that entailed estate (vínculo), Francisco de Ornelas e Vasconcelos, enlarged and improved the chapel, and on 3 August of that year permission was granted for it to be blessed anew. On 12 October 1879 the Archbishop of Goa, Dom Aires de Ornelas e Vasconcelos, blessed the chapel again and celebrated Mass in it, after the repairs carried out at the orders of his brother, the peer of the realm Agostinho de Ornelas e Vasconcelos, 15th administrator of the said entailed estate of Vale da Bica.

The small square formed by Rua da Carreira (now Dr. Vieira) and Rua das Pretas (now Câmara Pestana) is still known today as Largo da Igrejinha (‘little church square’). The name comes from a chapel or small church dedicated to Our Lady of Pity that once stood there. Domingos Rodrigues Garcês had it built in 1613, and the Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal) demolished it in 1836.

One of the notes to ‘Longing for the Homeland’ (Saudades da Terra) mentions the chapel of Our Lady of Pity that existed in the parish (freguesia) of São Gonçalo (‘St Gonçalo’), built in 1722 by João Rodrigues Oliva. In the parish of Monte (‘hill’), Dona Escolástica Lomelino de Vasconcelos, widow of João de Freitas da Silva, founded a chapel with the same dedication in 1728. Its deed of endowment and record of inspection are dated 6 and 25 June of that year.

Francisco Álvaro Homem built a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Pity in the parish of Estreito da Calheta (‘the narrows of Calheta’) around 1641, but it has long since disappeared.

On the quinta (country estate) of Cruzes, with its door opening onto the square of the same name, stands the chapel of Our Lady of Pity, founded by Francisco Esmeraldo Henriques, who owned the quinta. The date 1692 is carved on the portico, but the deed of endowment is dated 25 May 1695, and on 14 June of that year the chapel was inspected so that divine services could be celebrated there. It at present (1921) contains a burial vault said to hold the mortal remains of Urbano Lomelino (see Lomelino), founder of the convent of Our Lady of Pity (see that entry) in the town (vila) of Santa Cruz.

In the locality (sítio) of Paço (‘manor house’), in the parish of São Vicente (‘St Vincent’), Father Manuel de Andrade had a chapel consecrated to Our Lady of Pity built in 1784; its deed of endowment is dated 16 December of the same year. In the parish of Jardim do Mar (‘garden by the sea’) there is also a chapel with the same dedication, founded in 1736 by João de Couto Cardoso, holder of the entail (morgado), next to the houses where he lived. One of his successors, Francisco João de Vasconcelos Couto Cardoso, had it rebuilt in 1825 because of its advanced state of ruin, enlarging it and moving it to the vicinity of the old chapel. It has served as the parish church. Its present owner (1921) is Francisco João de Vasconcelos, a direct descendant of its founder and restorer.

A chapel with the same dedication existed in the parish of Porto da Cruz (‘harbour of the cross’). It belonged to the entailed estate (morgadio) founded by António Teixeira, nicknamed the Rei Pequeno (‘Little King’) (see Teixeira). It was one of the oldest in the captaincy of Machico and was already badly ruined in the first quarter of the 16th century. One of the later administrators of this chapel, Manuel de Carvalho Valdavesso, had it rebuilt in 1734, and permission to bless it was granted on 8 September of the same year. In 1814, when Tristão Teixeira de Vasconcelos Saavedra was its administrator, it was closed because of its ruinous state, and its church furnishings were taken to the parish church, where the old altarpiece that stood on the chapel’s altar can still be seen.