Nossa Senhora do Monte (parish)

Although this is its historic and true name, and the one written in official documents, beginning with those kept in the parish archive, it has certainly become more widely known as the parish (freguesia) of Monte (‘hill’). This reflects the simplifying tendencies of popular speech, which always seeks to follow the law of least effort.

Despite the name it keeps, the parish does not lie on the summit or slopes of an isolated mount, but halfway up the high mountains that encircle the outskirts of the city. The large nucleus of population that formed in Funchal on the shores of the ocean in the very earliest times gradually spread out across the surrounding ridges and hillocks, sometimes seeking out trackless and almost inaccessible places. It was not long before the clearing of woods and thickets, and the corresponding breaking of the land for cultivation, reached the heights of this parish, at least within the limits where it bordered on the original Funchal. The homesteads slowly advanced up the steep mountainside, and higher up there already stood the small and devout chapel of Our Lady of the Mount (Nossa Senhora do Monte), which lent its name to the locality (sítio) and later to the future parish.

This parish had its origin in the settled estate (fazenda povoada) that Adão Gonçalves Ferreira held there. He was the first man born on this island and the son of Gonçalo Aires Ferreira (see p. 21), the most distinguished companion of Zargo in the discovery of the archipelago. As was generally the case, a small chapel was the centre around which the first settlers gathered: around 1470 Adão Ferreira built a modest chapel there, which seems originally to have been called Nossa Senhora da Incarnação (Our Lady of the Incarnation). It later came to be called Our Lady of the Mount, certainly owing to the lie of the land, which fully justified the new and fitting name. Others maintain that it was the miraculous apparition of the image of the Blessed Virgin (Santíssima Virgem), which people at once began to call Our Lady of the Mount, that led the chapel to take this name, which passed to the locality and later to the whole parish.

The legend of this miraculous apparition is told in the following terms on the back of the engravings depicting the tiny and venerable image: ‘More than 300 years ago, at Terreiro da Luta (‘ground of the fight’), about 1 kilometre above the church of Our Lady of the Mount, a little Girl played one afternoon with a certain young shepherdess and gave her a snack. Full of joy, the shepherdess told her family of this, but they did not believe her, for it seemed impossible to them that a little Girl should appear in that lonely forest so far from the village. The following afternoon the same thing happened, and the shepherdess told of it again. The next day, at the hour the shepherdess had given, her father secretly went to watch the scene, and he saw on a stone a small Image of Most Holy Mary, and in front of it the innocent shepherdess, who, when her father unexpectedly appeared, declared that this Image was the little Girl she had spoken of. The shepherd, amazed, did not dare to touch the image, and reported the matter to the authorities, who had it placed in the chapel of the Incarnação, near the present church of “Our Lady of the Mount”, the name that has been given to that venerable Image ever since.’ This account does not differ in essentials from a manuscript description in our possession dating from the middle of the 18th century, which was itself based on an unbroken oral tradition. That description contains the following interesting detail: ‘On the following day at dawn Our Lady was found outside the Chapel, at the spring close by it, upon a stone on which some ancient characters, barely legible, may still be seen today…’ This most precious stone, says Father Joaquim Plácido Pereira, was buried at the bottom of the Ribeiro de Nossa Senhora (‘Our Lady’s brook’) when the Funchal Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal do Funchal) had the Largo da Fonte (‘fountain square’) enlarged in 1896.

The chapel founded by Adão Gonçalves Ferreira became the seat of the parish when the parish was created by royal decree (alvará régio) of 7 March 1565. The cramped dimensions of the little church perhaps made it necessary to enlarge it shortly after the parish (freguesia) was created. In 1688, too, the Treasury Council (Conselho da Fazenda) authorised expenditure of 900,000 réis (old Portuguese money of account; 1$000 = 1,000 réis, 1:000$000 = one conto = 1,000,000 réis) for the construction of a new church. This seems not to have been carried out, since in 1739, that is 50 years later, the works for building a new church were put out for award by public auction (arrematação) for 6,742,000 réis.

From all this it seems that the original chapel underwent some alterations over time, but that it survived until 1741, when it was entirely demolished; the foundation stone was laid on 10 June of that year. The new building was declared complete in 1747, at a cost of 3,454,292 réis raised from various donations and alms from the faithful, in addition to the sum of 6,742,000 réis already mentioned, granted by the public treasury. The work of decoration and the construction of various outbuildings of the church and of the houses attached to it continued, however.

A year later the earthquake of 1 April 1748 (see Earthquakes), which caused so much damage on this island, left the new church badly damaged and in need of major and immediate repairs. Work began without delay, but it proceeded slowly, and its full and final completion took several years. The opportunity was taken to correct, as far as possible, some serious errors made in the construction begun in 1741, which made the cost of the repairs carried out there all the greater. According to a note entered in one of the books of the parish archive, the total cost of the works, including the church with its churchyard and flights of steps, the walls, the attached houses and various ornaments and church furnishings, was 200,445,500 réis, undoubtedly a very considerable sum for the time. To meet these heavy expenses, collections were made throughout the island. A large contribution also came from the Confraternity of the Slaves of Our Lady of the Mount, founded in 1750 by Bishop Dom Friar João do Nascimento. It soon spread to every parish, arousing great devotion among the faithful, and almost all its revenue was applied to this purpose.

The church of Monte was consecrated by Bishop Dom Friar Joaquim de Meneses e Ataíde on 20 December 1818. In its architecture, its ornaments and decorations, its paintings or its carved woodwork it does not offer any artistic work of notable value or refined craftsmanship to catch the eye of visitors, still less of connoisseurs of art. It is nevertheless undoubtedly one of the best-proportioned churches in this diocese, and its architectural lines, some of its interior decoration, several paintings and the beauty of the whole make it well worth a visit. Since the pleasant and enchanting resort of Monte has always been visited by the most eminent personages passing through this island, its church has likewise been visited by many of them, among them the two empresses of Brazil, Leopoldina and Amélia; the Empress of Austria, Isabel; the Infante Dom Luís, later King of Portugal; King Carlos I and Queen Amélia, etc. This church holds the provisional tomb of the Emperor of Austria, Charles, who died in this parish on 1 April 1922 and of whom we shall speak elsewhere in this work.

Gaspar Frutuoso, who wrote the Saudades in 1590, makes no reference to the cult of Our Lady of the Mount, so widespread throughout the island, although he does mention a miraculous event (Saudades, p. 250) that occurred during the terrible sack of Funchal by the Huguenots on 3 October 1566. Devotion to Our Lady of Monte is nonetheless very old throughout the archipelago. From the second quarter of the 17th century onwards, the parish archive contains many references to this cult and accounts of extraordinary events attributed to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin through the devout image venerated there. Even so, it seems certain that it was only after the founding of the Confraternity of the Slaves of Our Lady of the Mount, around the middle of the 18th century, that the cult grew more intense and spread more widely through all the parishes of Madeira. It was then that pilgrimages and visits to the church began to draw larger crowds of the faithful, and these have grown steadily and considerably over the years. Today it is the most frequented pilgrimage festival on the whole island, with tens of thousands of people gathering there on 14 and 15 August each year.

After the flash flood (aluvião) of 9 October 1803 (vol. I, p. 54 ff.), the diocesan bishop, the cathedral chapter, the clergy and the faithful placed the island, and especially the city, under the protection of Our Lady of the Mount. This was confirmed by an Apostolic Rescript of Pius VII dated 21 July 1804, and the feast of the Patronage of Our Lady of the Mount was then instituted. It was celebrated on 9 October each year with a solemn procession from the Cathedral to the parish church of Santa Maria Maior (St Mary Major). The ninth of October was formerly a holy day of obligation, preceded by its own vigil with fasting.

The chapel founded by Adão Gonçalves Ferreira had its own chaplain, and when the seat of the parish was established there in 1565, religious services had long been held in it. The first parish priest of this parish was Bento Fernandes, followed in the post by Fathers António de Amorim, Sebastião de Amorim, Pedro Nunes de Afonseca, Pedro Nunes Furtado, Pedro Noronha de Mendonça, Inácio Espinola de Castro e Meneses, etc. The first parish priest was assigned an annual salary of 12,000 réis (old Portuguese money of account; 1$000 = 1,000 réis, 1:000$000 = one conto = 1,000,000 réis). By the royal decree (alvará) of 1 March 1577 this was increased by two thousand réis and one moio (dry measure of grain, 60 alqueires) of wheat, the parish then having 58 households (fogos, literally 'hearths'), that is, fewer than 300 inhabitants. The royal decree of 9 June 1581 raised the stipend (côngrua) to 25,000 réis a year, and that of 27 April 1591 fixed it at 16,000 réis in cash, one moio of wheat and one pipa (wine cask and measure, c. 400–500 litres) of wine. We do not know when the curacy (curato) of this parish was created, but we believe it must have been in the second half of the 18th century.

Someone once thought of calling this parish the ‘Madeiran Sintra’, and the long-serving and distinguished journalist João Augusto de Ornelas made the name widely known by popularising it in his writings. It is already cited under that name in various Portuguese and foreign works. Without seeking either to dispute or to justify this charming name, there can be no doubt that this parish is among the most beautiful and enchanting in Madeira. It owes this not only to its lush vegetation, its astonishing panoramas, the picturesque and pleasant character of the place and its admirable position overlooking the city, but also to the freshness of the locality, the clarity and purity of its waters, its fine walks, its lovely park, its excellent hotels, the lift, the Esplanade restaurant, and likewise its numerous quintas (country estates) and country houses, which are found everywhere. So remarkable a combination of qualities makes Monte the opulent and noble suburb of Funchal, the favourite resort for the summer season and a true and coveted Eden for the favoured of fortune (1921).

Among these quintas the well-known Quinta do Monte stands out as one of the most beautiful and richest in Madeira, for its sumptuous residence, opulently and artistically furnished, and its magnificent gardens, woods, vegetable plots and orchards, from which vast and astonishing panoramas can be enjoyed. It was built by the British subject James David Gordon in the second quarter of the 19th century, later passed into the possession of Leland Cossart, and is today the property of Luís da Rocha Machado (see Almanach do Diário da Madeira, 1915, p. 6). The Emperor Charles of Austria lived there for some months and died there in April 1922. The English consul Charles Murray built the Quinta do Belo Monte around the middle of the 18th century. In 1817 its owner was Roberto Page, who received the Empress Leopoldina of Brazil there. It later passed to the house of Calçada and today belongs to Captain Francisco W. Frasão Sardinha (1921). The Quinta do Pico da Pedra was built a few years ago by the banker Luís da Rocha Machado as his residence (1921).

We mention these quintas in particular only because we would have to go a long way if we tried to deal with the other summer residences scattered throughout this parish, some of which are excellent and comfortable country houses. One of the factors in the prosperity and growth of the parish of Monte was the building of the railway lift, which draws there most of the foreigners passing through our port, who number many thousands each year. The railway, from Pombal to the Terreiro da Luta, is approximately four kilometres long, and we have already dealt with it on p. 221 of the 1st volume of this work (1921).

The parish of Monte is today served by a privately owned road for motor cars, which does much to increase the number of visitors to the locality. It was built a few years ago and lies at one end of the road along the Levada de Santa Luzia, as a continuation of the Avenida Pedro José de Ornelas.

We cannot fail to give special mention to the distinctive means of transport used to carry visitors back from Monte to the city. These are small wicker cars, modelled on Russian sledges, which slide at dizzying speed down the steep slope, propelled by men long trained in this work, to which they devote themselves almost exclusively. References to this typical means of transport are countless in many Portuguese and foreign works. Despite the danger it naturally involves, accidents are rare, thanks to the drivers’ extreme skill (vol. I, p. 252).

The absence of a particular reference here to the Terreiro da Luta and its restaurant, the Parque Leite Monteiro, the Capela-Monumento and the Fonte da Senhora would be noticed, were it not that we deal specifically with these places, which are of considerable interest to the history of this parish, elsewhere in this work (see Terreiro da Luta, Parque Leite Monteiro and Capela-Monumento).

The Revd Father José Marques Jardim, the present parish priest of Monte, is engaged in the praiseworthy endeavour of raising a monument to the Blessed Virgin near the Terreiro da Luta, that is, where local tradition holds that the miraculous apparition of Our Lady took place. To this end he travelled to North America to raise donations for the construction of the great statue that will form part of the monument (1921). See Monuments.

Some of the points touched on here were treated more fully by the Revd Father Joaquim Plácido Pereira in his excellent pamphlet Nossa Senhora do Monte, Padroeira da Ilha da Madeira, an interesting monograph on the parish.