Our Lady of the Mount (chapel)

In 1750 the inhabitants of the localities of Lombo das Adegas (‘ridge of the wine cellars’) and Terças (‘thirds’), in the parish (freguesia) of Ponta do Sol (‘point of the sun’), asked permission to build a chapel. They cited the distance at which they lived from the parish church and their wish to build a small sanctuary to house and venerate the revered image of Our Lady of the Mount (Nossa Senhora do Monte), which stood in a small thatched oratory lacking the decorum due to the image. The chapel had a deed of endowment executed on 7 July 1750, and permission for its blessing was granted on 15 September 1751. Twenty-four years later it was enlarged, and it was blessed anew on 10 June 1775.

On the night of 1 June 1810 the doors of the chapel were forced and the image of Our Lady was taken out and set down some distance away, stripped of all the jewels that adorned it, which caused the deepest sorrow among the whole population. The image was taken to the parish church and, after various acts of reparation, was carried back in procession and with the greatest solemnity to the chapel on 6 August 1810.