Our Lady of the Snows (chapel)
Original title: Nossa Senhora das Neves (Capela de)
A sixteenth-century chapel of Our Lady of the Snows near the Garajau headland east of Funchal, founded by the early settler João Afonso Mealheiro and his wife Catarina de Sá. It gave its name to the locality, was the seat of a curacy and first housed the parish of São Gonçalo.
History of the chapel
Referring to this chapel, Frutuoso says: ‘... there is a church of Our Lady of the Snows (Nossa Senhora das Neves), within sight of Funchal, on a headland called Garajau (‘tern’), one légua before reaching the city.’ It is very old and one of the few 16th-century chapels still standing, although it has undergone some alterations over time. It was founded by João Afonso Mealheiro and his wife Catarina de Sá. Speaking of him, Dr Rodrigues de Azevedo says: ‘... he was one of the first settlers of the island of Madeira, and held a sesmaria (royal land grant to settlers on condition of cultivation) at Ribeira Seca, in São Gonçalo (‘St Gonçalo’), as far as Caniço (‘reed’). His wife Catarina de Sá, or Pires, founded the entail of Neves and left it to her nephew, the almoxarife João Cabral; but on behalf of the Royal Treasury the entail was sold to pay off a deficit in his accounts; it was bought by Lopo Machado de Góis, and his son Bartolomeu Machado founded it anew.’
We have read somewhere that in 1692 this chapel passed into the possession of Dona Guiomar Castelo Branco, daughter of Gaspar Vilela and wife of António Correia. In the last quarter of the 19th century the English merchant John Blandy bought this chapel and the adjoining lands, which bordered on the magnificent Palheiro Ferreiro (‘blacksmith’s barn’) estate, also acquired by the same merchant. John Blandy carried out major repairs to the chapel and enlarged its churchyard.
The chapel of Neves gave its name to the locality (sítio), was the seat of a curacy (curato), and the parish of São Gonçalo was housed in it when that parish was created.
On p. 80 of ‘Longing for the Homeland’ (Saudades da Terra), the ingenuous Gaspar Frutuoso tells of the struggle that a cleric had with the devil near this chapel, when the devil tried to hurl the churchman into the sea from the heights of the cliff of Garajau.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 02Place
Places mentioned · 08- Chapel of Our Lady of the Snows · Subject
Funchal
The Capela de Nossa Senhora das Neves is a sixteenth-century chapel near the Garajau headland east of Funchal, founded by the early settler João Afonso Mealheiro and his wife Catarina de Sá. It gave its name to the locality, was the seat of a curacy and first housed the parish of São Gonçalo. Popular belief held that a cleric struggled with the devil near it.
- Caniço
Santa Cruz. Limit of Mealheiro's sesmaria.
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.
- Funchal
The chapel stands within sight of the city.
The capital of the archipelago and seat of the principal captaincy, where settlement began; it was made a vila c.1451–52. Its bay, the widest in the archipelago, lies between Ponta do Garajau and Ponta da Cruz and offers sheltered anchorage, though its harbour had never been studied oceanographically. The Elucidário discusses it as a health resort with climate data and records the January 1906 disturbances, the Danish prince's visit in May 1846 and recent volcanic cones in the area.
- Garajau
Santa Cruz. Headland on which the chapel stands.
Garajau is a headland closing Funchal bay to the east, 2.9 miles from Funchal, named after the terns found there by the discoverers. It is topped by a basalt dyke, bears a chapel of Nossa Senhora das Neves and the 1927 Sacred Heart statue, and had a telegraph from 1839 to 1847. It is noted for volcanic bombs, a surviving dragon tree, the only wild norça, Senecio incrassatus and deep-water shells, and is recommended as a viewpoint.
- Neves
Funchal. Locality named after the chapel.
Locality named after the chapel of Nossa Senhora das Neves, where a group of dragon trees survives.
- Palheiro Ferreiro
Santa Cruz. Blandy's estate bordering the chapel lands.
A quinta and one of the principal localities of Caniço parish, later Blandy's estate, whose land borders that of the chapel of Nossa Senhora das Neves. The Conde de Carvalhal gave a celebrated festivity there for Infante D. Luís, and a fête was held there during the visit of the King and Queen of Portugal. It was one of the defence posts organised by Travassos Valdês at the time of the Miguelist occupation, and part of the troops were detached to it.
- Ribeira Seca
Machico. Boundary of Mealheiro's sesmaria.
Ribeira Seca is one of the main localities of Machico parish and the stream that is the main tributary of the Ribeira de Machico. It is the source of the Levada da Serra do Faial, marked a boundary of Mealheiro's sesmaria, and is where the Misericórdia de Machico still owns a property.
- São Gonçalo
Funchal. Parish first installed in the chapel when created.
São Gonçalo is a suburban parish at the eastern end of Funchal, created in the sixteenth century, part of whose territory was added in 1927, when it also became a julgado of the Funchal comarca. The Elucidário notes its professional embroiderers producing the finest work, its levadas, its hay supply to Funchal, its shearwater hunters, and that it was the birthplace of Padre Manuel Fernandes de Sant'Ana; it contains Alpires and the Quinta do Rochedo.
People
People mentioned · 11- Álvaro Rodrigues de Azevedo1825–1898
Annotator of Frutuoso's work, quoted on Mealheiro and the morgado das Neves.
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Son of Lopo Machado de Goes, who re-established the morgado das Neves.
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Wife of João Afonso Mealheiro, co-founder of the chapel and founder of the morgado das Neves.
- Francisco António Correia1457–1572
Husband of Guiomar Castelo Branco.
- Gaspar Frutuoso1522–1591
Azorean chronicler, author of Saudades da Terra, quoted describing the chapel and a legend about it.
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Father of Guiomar Castelo Branco, owner of the chapel from 1692.
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Daughter of Gaspar Vilela who came into possession of the chapel in 1692.
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One of the first settlers of Madeira, holder of a sesmaria from Ribeira Seca to Caniço, and co-founder of the chapel.
- João Blandyd. 1912
English merchant who bought and repaired the chapel in the late 19th century and enlarged its forecourt.
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Almoxarife and nephew of Catarina de Sá, who left him the morgado das Neves.
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Bought the morgado das Neves when the Crown sold it to cover a debt.