Our Lady of Protection (chapels)
Original title: Nossa Senhora do Amparo (Capelas de)
Describes several chapels in Madeira dedicated to Our Lady of Amparo, chiefly the one at Álamos (Água de Mel) in Santo António, seat of the Água de Mel entail, with others in São Martinho, Ponta do Pargo and Machico.
At the locality (sítio) of Álamos (‘poplars’) in the parish (freguesia) of Santo António (‘St Anthony’) stands the chapel of Our Lady of Protection (Nossa Senhora do Amparo), which is in a fair state of repair; the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is celebrated there from time to time. The chapel lies on the boundary between this parish and that of São Roque, at the locality known as Água de Mel (‘honey water’), a name once shared by a large tract of land belonging to both parishes. On the part of this locality within the bounds of Santo António stood the chapel, a large dwelling house and other outbuildings, which formed the seat of the old entailed foundation (instituição vincular, a morgado or capela) known as Água de Mel.
The annotator of ‘Longing for the Homeland’ (Saudades da Terra) gives 1698 as the year this chapel was founded, but we are inclined to believe that it is much older, perhaps even contemporary with the founding of the entail (morgado), which dates from the last quarter of the 15th century. It is certain, however, that Bartolomeu de Sá Machado, administrator of this entail, had it built – or rather, perhaps, rebuilt – in that same year of 1698. (See Bettencourt, I-139.)
Dona Luísa de Mendonça, widow of José de Seixas, had a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Protection built in 1712 in the parish of São Martinho (‘St Martin’); it belongs to the heirs of the Sauvayres entail-holders. In the parish of Ponta do Pargo (‘sea bream point’) there is also a chapel of the same dedication, which gave its name to the locality where it stands. The feast celebrated there every year is very well attended. Francisco Franco also founded a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Protection in the parish of Machico in 1692.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 04-
The Água de Mel entail was instituted in the last quarter of the fifteenth century.
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Francisco Dias Franco founded a chapel of Nossa Senhora do Amparo in Machico.
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Bartolomeu de Sá Machado built or rebuilt the chapel of Nossa Senhora do Amparo at Álamos.
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D. Luísa de Mendonça founded the chapel of Nossa Senhora do Amparo in São Martinho.
Place
Places mentioned · 08- Chapel of Our Lady of Protection · Subject
Funchal
These are several chapels in Madeira dedicated to Our Lady of Amparo. The chief one is at Álamos (Água de Mel) in Santo António, seat of the Água de Mel entail; others stood in São Martinho, Ponta do Pargo and Machico.
- Água de Mel
Funchal. Area shared by two parishes, seat of the Água de Mel entail.
An area in Funchal shared by two parishes, seat of an entail founded by Maria de Bettencourt and later held by the Counts of Carvalhal. The governor was ambushed there in 1668, near the Bettencourt manor.
- Álamos
Funchal. Locality where the main Amparo chapel stands.
Inhabited locality in Santo António parish, Funchal, where the main chapel of Nossa Senhora do Amparo (1698) stands. It was the seat of the old entail of Água de Mel and a point on the 1927 limit.
- Machico
Parish with an Amparo chapel founded in 1692.
The parish of Machico was the landing place of the discoverers Zargo and Tristão Vaz and the seat of the captaincy of Machico; the parish was founded c. 1450. The Elucidário covers its clergy and stipends, chapels, historical events, mineral springs, localities, population and notable natives.
- Ponta do Pargo
Calheta. Parish with an Amparo chapel that named its locality and hosts a popular feast.
Ponta do Pargo is a parish at Madeira's western extremity, transferred from Porto do Moniz to Calheta municipality in 1871, where a lighthouse long demanded was first lit in 1922. It is watered by the old Rabaçal levada, grows Sercial vines, gives its name to a white cattle sub-breed, and was the birthplace of Manuel da Costa Dias and João Pestana Júnior.
- Santo António
Funchal. Parish containing the Álamos chapel.
Santo António is a parish in the municipality of Funchal, Madeira, where the São João stream rises and the Jesuits had their Pico do Cardo residence. Its church bears a 1783 Latin inscription, and the parish contains the Madalena, São João e Santana and Pópulo chapels; it also gives its name to a hill of about 400 metres near its church.
- São Martinho
Funchal. Parish with an Amparo chapel built in 1712.
São Martinho is a suburban parish west of Funchal, created in 1579 from São Pedro and partly added to the city in 1927. It had sugar factories, grew Tinta vines, and has characteristic volcanic bombs. It is the reputed birthplace of D. Nuno de Aguiar.
- São Roque
Funchal. Neighbouring parish on whose boundary the chapel lies.
São Roque is a suburban parish of Funchal, separated from São Pedro and created under a royal charter of 1579; it is named after its original chapel of São Roque. The Elucidário traces the history of its parish church and lists its chapels, principal localities and population.
People
People mentioned · 05-
Administrator of the Água de Mel entail who built or rebuilt the Amparo chapel at Álamos in 1698.
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Author cited as source for the chapel's history.
- Francisco Francod. 1916
Founder of an Amparo chapel in Machico parish in 1692.
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Late husband of Luísa de Mendonça, founder of the São Martinho chapel.
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Widow of José de Seixas who had an Amparo chapel built in São Martinho in 1712.