Passos procession 1Route and ceremonies of the procession
Passos procession
Original title: Procissão dos Passos
Describes the former Procession of the Steps (Passos) in Funchal during Lent, with its Saturday night transfer of images, Sunday route, ceremony of the encounter at the Cathedral and Calvary scenes at Santa Maria Maior, and the origin of the images used.
1Route and ceremonies of the procession
In times now somewhat removed from our own, the images of Christ Carrying the Cross (Senhor dos Passos), from the church of the Convent of St Clare (Santa Clara), and of Nossa Senhora da Soledade (Our Lady of Solitude), from the church of the Mercês, were carried in procession on Saturday night: the latter to the Cathedral (the Sé) and the former to the church of the College (Colégio). The image of Our Lord was the first to leave, and the image of Our Lady then joined the cortège. Many boys bearing lighted torches went ahead of the procession, which, after passing the church of the College, made its way to the Cathedral. The Passos procession (Lenten procession of Christ carrying the Cross) left the church of the College on Sunday afternoon and went along Rua da Carreira (‘track’) and Rua de São Francisco to visit a station (of the Cross) that stood on the north side of the old Jardim Pequeno. It then proceeded to the Cathedral, where the ceremony of the encounter took place, at first inside the church and later outside it. On that occasion a sermon was preached on the event. The procession, now joined by the confraternity and the image of Nossa Senhora da Soledade, then went on to the church of Santa Maria Maior (St Mary Major), making short halts in front of the Stations of the Passion (passos, wayside oratories depicting scenes of Christ's Passion) in Rua do Aljube (‘bishop’s prison’), at the Pelourinho (‘pillory’) and in Rua de Santa Maria.
The cortège was headed by the processional banner, followed by a large purple processional banner bearing the letters S. P. Q. R. There was a time when it was customary to have a man playing a trumpet march at the front of the procession; he was known as the gajeiro.
In the church of Santa Maria Maior the scenes of Calvary were enacted, generally at some length, and the procession returned to the church of the College only after nightfall, when the images were put back in their respective niches.
Candles were lit in the windows of the buildings, and, as on the previous evening, the cortège was preceded by many men and boys carrying large lighted torches, which gave it a strange and fantastic appearance.
Many women penitents, usually barefoot, accompanied the procession, and in remote times it also included some penitents carrying heavy iron bars or armed with scourges with which they lacerated their bodies.
2Origin of the images
It is worth mentioning here that the image that appears in the Passos procession was brought from Porto by a man named Joaquim Roque, who bequeathed it in his will to the church of the Convent of St Clare. The image of Nossa Senhora da Soledade (Our Lady of Solitude) had the same origin and was bequeathed to the convent of the Mercês. When that house ceased to exist, the image passed to the church of the College.
When the two images arrived in Madeira, they were placed, so it is said, in a private chapel in the lane of the Capuchinhas. From there they passed to the chapel of the Quinta do Til, where they remained until they were carried in procession to the two convents mentioned, following the grant made by their owner.
Before these two images were acquired, the procession we are describing featured an image of Christ Carrying the Cross belonging to a holder of the Correia entail (morgado), and an image of the Senhora da Soledade, which is now in the chapel of Faial.
In this article
Place
Places mentioned · 15
Abroad
- Chapel of Faial
Santana. Chapel now holding an older image of Our Lady of Solitude.
Chapel now holding an older image of Our Lady of Solitude.
- Church of St Clare
Funchal. Church that held the image of the Senhor dos Passos.
The church of Santa Clara in Funchal was originally the chapel of Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Cima, built by João Gonçalves Zarco as his family burial place and later absorbed into the convent of Santa Clara. The Elucidário discusses the uncertain location of Zarco's remains, the tombs of later captains-donatary found there in 1919, its role as the destination of the quincentenary pilgrimage, and the shell that hit it during Mass in the 1917 bombardment.
- Church of St Mary Major
Funchal. Church where the Calvary scenes were enacted.
The Igreja de Santa Maria Maior, formerly the church of São Tiago Menor (Socorro), is a parish church in Funchal above the Barreirinha beach. It became the seat of one of Funchal's two parishes in 1558 and stood next to the old hospital. It was the destination of several processions, including the patronal procession to St James.
- Colégio church
Funchal. Starting and ending point of the Sunday procession.
The Igreja do Colégio (São João Evangelista) is the Jesuit college church in the parish of Sé, Funchal, built after 1508. It was the starting point of several processions, the scene of the 1776 thanksgiving ceremonies and anniversary Te Deums, and the burial place of D. Francisco Henriques. It holds a 16th-century painting.
- Convent of Our Lady of Ransom
Funchal. Convent church that held the image of Our Lady of Solitude.
The Convento das Mercês was a convent in Funchal, begun in 1654 as a lay retreat house for women, made a strict Poor Clare convent in 1663, and demolished from 1911. It was renowned for the austerity of its nuns, its foundation is the subject of a legend, and it gave the Rua das Mercês its name. Madre Brites da Paixão lived, died and was buried there, and its church held the image of Our Lady of Solitude.
- Funchal Cathedral (the Sé)
Funchal. Cathedral where the ceremony of the encounter took place.
The Sé do Funchal is the cathedral of Funchal, in the parish of Sé. It was begun in 1493, became a parish seat in 1508 and a cathedral in 1514. It was the starting point of processions and the place of the vow to São Tiago, and bishops are buried there.
- Jardim Pequeno
Funchal. Old garden with a passo on its north side.
Small public garden in Funchal, laid out in 1878 between the Praça da Constituição and the former Franciscan convent grounds, with a passo on its north side. It was removed in 1914 to build the Avenida Oeste (now Avenida Dr. Manuel de Arriaga).
- Largo do Pelourinho
Funchal. Site of a passo where the procession paused.
Largo do Pelourinho is a Funchal square, already tree-planted in 1508, through which the Forte de São Filipe was entered. The council occupied a house there from 1838 that was damaged by the 1842 flood; it also held a passo of the Procissão dos Passos, the Talia society's premises, and was where Francisco Rodrigues Jardim was hanged in effigy.
- Porto
Portugal. City from which the images were brought.
A Portuguese city, where the 1820 liberal revolution began and whose district is the only one denser than Funchal's. Several Madeirans studied at its medical school or Academia Politécnica, and some lived or died there. The editor of O Funchalense Liberal was hanged there, and Marítimo beat FC Porto there in 1922.
- Quinta do Til
Funchal. Estate whose chapel housed the images before their donation.
Estate whose chapel housed the images before their donation.
- Rua da Carreira
Funchal. Street on the procession route.
Rua da Carreira, officially Rua do Dr. Vieira, is one of Funchal's oldest streets, a boundary of Sé parish, named after horse races once run there and the widest street of the town in 1508. It was home to noble families, chapels and the British cemetery, and housed the police building from 1934.
- Rua de Santa Maria
Funchal. Street with a passo where the procession paused.
Rua de Santa Maria is an old street in the parish of Santa Maria Maior, Funchal, which already had noble houses in 1508; it opens onto the Largo do Poço, runs parallel to Rua Nova de Santa Maria and marks the site of the church of Nossa Senhora do Calhau. It had a passo where the Procissão dos Passos paused and was flooded in 1803 and 1856. It housed Marítimo's headquarters, the first premises of the Clube Washington, the Missão Marquês de Pombal's school, and the Escola Industrial António Augusto de Aguiar when it opened in 1889.
People
People mentioned · 01-
Man who had the images of the Senhor dos Passos and Senhora da Soledade brought from Porto and bequeathed them to Funchal churches.