Santa Luzia (parish)

Santa Luzia (‘St Lucy’) is one of the four urban parishes (freguesia) of Funchal and forms part of the upper area of the city. It is the most recently created of the parishes of this municipality (concelho), and was formed from land belonging to the parishes of the Cathedral (Sé Catedral) and of Nossa Senhora do Monte.

Once it was recognised that the Sé parish needed to be relieved of a considerable share of its households (fogos, literally 'hearths'), so that parish services could be better organised, the chapel of St Lucy, standing on a rise on the left bank of the stream of the same name, was chosen as the seat of the new parish, which had been created by the royal decree (alvará régio) of 28 December 1676. The General Index of the Register of the Crown Revenue Office (Provedoria) reads: ‘Decree of the Lord King Peter II, of 28 December 1676, empowering the bishop Dom Friar António da Silva Teles to create a parish in the Chapel of St Lucy, assigning to the vicar a stipend (côngrua) and a suitable territory, with part of the parish of the Sé outside the walls and part of that of Nossa Senhora do Monte, since the curates of the Sé had nearly 6,000 souls to attend to within the city’. The first vicar was Father Amaro de Atouguia, whose annual salary was set by the royal decree of 24 July 1681 at 21,000 réis (old Portuguese money of account; 1$000 = 1,000 réis, 1:000$000 = one conto = 1,000,000 réis) in cash, 1 pipa (wine cask and measure, c. 400–500 litres) of wine and one and a half moios (dry measure of grain, 60 alqueires) of wheat.

The same index cites the royal decree of 13 August 1745, which created a curacy (curato) in this parish with an annual salary of one and a half pipas of wine and one and a half moios of wheat.

The chapel of St Lucy was built at the end of the 15th century. Being in an advanced state of ruin, it collapsed in the first quarter of the 18th century, and the seat of the parish was provisionally moved to the chapel of Nossa Senhora da Incarnação, in the convent of the same name.

The royal decree of 9 September 1719 ordered a new church to be built, but it seems that construction did not begin at once, since warrants of the Council of the Treasury (Conselho da Fazenda) dated 14 January, 13 February and 3 December 1740 authorised various payments to complete the works on the new church. It must be supposed that the work was only declared fully finished in 1741. This is the present church, which was built at a site somewhat removed from the old chapel, then known as Santa Luzia Velha.

This parish contained the chapels of São Francisco Xavier, Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagem, Nossa Senhora da Esperança, Nossa Senhora da Pena, Nossa Senhora do Vale, Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres, Our Lady of Consolation (Nossa Senhora da Consolação) and Nossa Senhora do Descanso (Our Lady of Rest), of which only the last two survive. We give an account of all of them elsewhere.

Within the bounds of this parish stood the convent of Nossa Senhora da Incarnação, which we have already discussed. In its convent grounds a large building was put up to serve as the Diocesan Seminary, and it is today the District General Council Palace (Palácio da Junta Geral) (see Seminary). Also in this parish is the Old People’s Home (Asilo dos Velhinhos), maintained by the District General Council (Junta Geral) (see Asylums and Little Sisters of the Poor) (1921).

The central station of the Monte Railway (Caminho de Ferro do Monte) and its main installations are in this parish (volume I, page 221), as is the important industrial establishment known as the Fábrica do Torreão, to which we have already referred on page 394 of volume I of this work.

We have already dealt, in the article Levadas on page 235 of volume II, with the abundant and rich water source called the Levada de Santa Luzia, a levada (irrigation channel) whose important aqueduct crosses a considerable part of this parish. Alongside the levada runs an excellent road, which stretches from near the Santa Luzia stream to the northern end of the avenue of Pedro José d’Ornelas. It offers striking views over the bay, the city and its surroundings. It is one of the sections that are to make up the planned ring road of Funchal.

On 3 March 1898 the Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal) granted permission to enlarge the old churchyard of Santa Luzia, and work began shortly afterwards.

According to the Mappa alphabetico das ruas da Cidade, approved by the civil governor on 5 October 1863, the boundaries of the parish of Santa Luzia were set as follows: the northern side of Rua do Carmo, between the bridge and the Vale brook; the eastern side of Rua das Hortas (Alferes Veiga Pestana) as far as Rua do Bom Jesus; this last street, on both sides, but only as far as Rua da Conceição (Correia Heredia); the Levadinha das Hortas; the part of Rua da Princesa (31 de Janeiro) that lies above the Ponte Nova (‘new bridge’) and adjoins it; and the start of the Calçada da Incarnação. Under the same map, the buildings on the northern side of Rua do Carmo but west of the Vale brook, Rua da Fábrica, Rua da Conceição, Rua da Ponte Nova and Rua da Princesa below the same bridge were assigned to the parish of the Sé, as was the part of Rua do Bom Jesus west of the said Rua da Conceição.

The parish priests of the Sé and of Santa Luzia include in the latter parish the eastern and western sides of Rua das Hortas below Rua do Bom Jesus, and the northern and southern sides of that street between Rua das Hortas and Rua da Conceição. Some public offices, however, regard the southern side of Rua do Bom Jesus as part of the parish of the Sé. Some also hold that the northern side of Rua do Carmo, between Rua das Hortas and the Vale brook, belongs to the parish of Santa Luzia rather than to that of the Sé.

To the east, the parish of Santa Luzia extends as far as the Ribeira de João Gomes (‘João Gomes’s stream’), and to the north it reaches above the Levada de Santa Luzia, without, however, reaching the Quinta da Paz on the Monte road.