Our Lady of the Angels (chapel)
Original title: Nossa Senhora dos Anjos (Capela de)
Chapel of Our Lady of the Angels at the sítio of Anjos, now in Canhas parish, of disputed 15th- or 16th-century foundation and a noted place of devotion, restored in 1892.
In this parish (Madalena (‘Magdalene’))’, says Frutuoso, ‘there is a chapel of Our Lady of the Angels (Nossa Senhora dos Anjos) which, apart from being small, is a rich house, with a small, fresh and well-adorned altarpiece, beside which is a cool spring beneath some stones, among some sugar cane fields of very fine canes.’ Dr Álvaro de Azevedo states that this chapel was founded in 1508 by Martim Afonso and his wife Isabel Afonso, who established an entailed estate (morgadio) there in favour of their son Diogo Martins de Canha, called the Knight. The annotator of the ‘Island History’ (História Insulana), however, says that the chapel of Anjos (‘angels’) was built in 1474 by order of the Infanta Dona Beatriz, as guardian of her son, the Grand Master of the Order of Christ (Ordem de Cristo), to which this archipelago belonged in spiritual matters. The image venerated in this chapel was an object of great devotion among the faithful, and Friar Agostinho de Santa Maria devoted a chapter to it in vol. X of his Santuário Mariano. The locality (sítio) where the chapel stands, called Anjos, is noted for the fertility of its soil; it belongs today to the parish (freguesia) of Canhas, but it was once part of the parish of Ponta do Sol (‘point of the sun’). The chapel was restored by its then owner, Dona Júlia de França Neto, in 1892 and consecrated for worship on 10 December of that year.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 03-
Infanta D. Beatriz reportedly ordered the chapel of Nossa Senhora dos Anjos built.
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Martim Afonso and Isabel Afonso reportedly founded the chapel of Nossa Senhora dos Anjos at Canhas, with an entail.
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Júlia de França Neto restored the chapel of Nossa Senhora dos Anjos, which was consecrated for worship on 10 December 1892.
Place
Places mentioned · 05- Chapel of Our Lady of the Angels · Subject
Ponta do Sol
The Capela de Nossa Senhora dos Anjos is an old chapel at the sítio of Anjos, now in Canhas parish, and it gave the locality its name. It was founded in the 15th or 16th century (the date is disputed), is a noted place of devotion and was restored in 1892.
- Anjos
Ponta do Sol. Fertile locality where the chapel stands.
Fertile coastal locality in the parish of Canhas, named after the old chapel of Nossa Senhora dos Anjos and formerly part of the parish of Ponta do Sol. It forms the eastern boundary of Madalena do Mar and was the site of Martim Afonso da Cunha's sesmaria lands.
- Canhas
Ponta do Sol. Parish to which the site now belongs.
Canhas is a parish in the municipality of Ponta do Sol on Madeira's south coast, named after the Canha family and created in 1577, first installed at the chapel of São Tiago. The Elucidário records its church and chapels, local dress and speech, industries and localities such as Outeiro and Carvalhal e Carreira, its irrigation by a small private levada, and the sesmaria of Martim Afonso da Cunha.
- Madalena do Mar
Ponta do Sol. Parish where Frutuoso placed the chapel.
Madalena do Mar is a parish on the south-west coast of Madeira, in the municipality of Ponta do Sol, founded on the estate of the legendary Henrique Alemão and made an independent parish in 1582. The Elucidário records its chapels, sugar and banana farming, its capitania-mor, damage in the 1876 floods and the 1939 flood of the Ribeira da Madalena, and it was the birthplace of António Policarpo dos Passos Sousa.
- Ponta do Sol
Parish to which the site formerly belonged.
South-coast parish and municipality, settled from about 1440 by Rodrigo Enes 'o Coxo'. Its parish church of Nossa Senhora da Luz holds a triptych. The Elucidário also records its quay of 1848, paid for by the council, and the royal visit of 1858.
People
People mentioned · 08- Álvaro Rodrigues de Azevedo1825–1898
Annotator of Frutuoso who dated the chapel's foundation to 1508.
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Infanta said by the annotator of História Insulana to have ordered the chapel built in 1474 as guardian of the Grand Master of the Order of Christ.
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Son of the founders, called 'the Knight', beneficiary of the entail.
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Author of the Santuário Mariano, which devotes a chapter to the chapel's image.
- Gaspar Frutuoso1522–1591
Chronicler quoted describing the chapel and its spring among sugar cane.
- Isabel Afonsod. 1554
Wife of Martim Afonso and co-founder of the chapel.
- Júlia de França Netod. 1903
Owner who restored the chapel in 1892.
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Founded the chapel in 1508 with his wife, according to Azevedo, instituting an entail.