Santa Maria Maior (parish)

The parish (freguesia) of Santa Maria Maior (‘St Mary Major’) lies on the eastern side of the city of Funchal and is one of its four parishes.

It owes this name to the fact that its original parish church was larger than the chapel built by João Gonçalves Zarco on the site where the Convent of St Clare (Santa Clara) stands today, both being dedicated to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (Nossa Senhora da Conceição). In former times it was also known as Conceição de Baixo (Lower Conceição), the other being called Conceição de Cima (Upper Conceição). It was likewise called Our Lady of Calhau (Nossa Senhora do Calhau), because it was built not far from the beach; this is the name that has lasted longest among the people, and it is still in use today. This parish became widely known, and still is at present, as the parish of Socorro (‘succour’), a name applied especially to the part of it lying between the parish church and the left bank of the Ribeira de João Gomes (‘João Gomes’s stream’). The name came from the image of Our Lady of Succour (Nossa Senhora do Socorro), which was venerated in the parish church and was in former times the object of fervent devotion among the inhabitants of Funchal.

We have already given an account of the church of Our Lady of Calhau (Nossa Senhora do Calhau) elsewhere (volume II, page 451), and we shall deal with the church of São Tiago (St James the Greater), to which the seat of the parish was transferred in 1803, at the appropriate place in this work.

On the creation of this parish we have said enough in the article Parishes (volume II, page 52), to which we refer the reader. It may be stated that this was the first parish of the archipelago and is at present the oldest.

When the magnificent church of the Cathedral (Sé Catedral) was built, the seat of the parish of Santa Maria Maior was transferred to the new and spacious church, around 1508. Some fifty years later, as the population kept on growing, the parish (freguesia) was divided by the royal decree (alvará régio) of 18 November 1557 into two independent parishes, with their respective seats in the Cathedral and in the church of Our Lady of Calhau.

After the Franciscan friars, it seems that Nuno Cão (see that entry) was one of the first priests to perform parish duties in this parish. He moved to the Cathedral in 1508 and in 1514 was raised to dean of that same Cathedral. When the parish was divided in 1537, the first vicar of Santa Maria Maior was the licentiate Antonio Mourão, to whom the royal decree of 23 February 1558 assigned an annual stipend of 20,000 réis (old Portuguese money of account; 1$000 = 1,000 réis, 1:000$000 = one conto = 1,000,000 réis), one pipa (wine cask and measure, c. 400–500 litres) of wine and two moios of wheat.

The curacy (curato) of this parish was created by royal decree of 27 August 1589, with an annual salary of 20,000 réis.

This church had a collegiate body, created by the royal decree of 18 November 1557. Besides the vicar and the curate, it comprised three further beneficiaries, whose number was later raised to six, together with a treasurer, a preacher and an organist.

This parish has the chapels of St Elmo, Our Lady of Good Success, Nossa Senhora do Faial (Our Lady of Faial) and Our Lady Mother of Mankind, as well as others that have since disappeared, of all of which we shall give a brief account.

Within this parish lie the former square (campo) of Carlos I, now named after Almirante Reis, the fortress of São Tiago (St James the Greater), the Campo da Barca (‘boat field’) or Campo de Miguel Bombarda, the Land Disinfection Station (Posto de Desinfecção Terrestre), the electric light works and other industrial establishments.

The parish (freguesia) of Santa Maria Maior has a population of 7,823 inhabitants (1921). It begins at the Ribeira de João Gomes. Its eastern boundary is customarily taken to be the western or left-hand half of the Caminho do Palheiro and the Caminho da Terça (‘third part’), while the eastern or right-hand half belongs to the parish of São Gonçalo. It should be noted, however, that these boundaries do not agree with those marked in the Mappa Alphabetico of the city’s streets, approved by the civil governor on 15 December 1863. That map clearly states that the whole of the Rua do Palheiro, from the Quinta do Acciaioly or Quinta do Faial as far as the Rua Bela de São Tiago, belongs to the parish of Santa Maria Maior, and that this parish extends as far as the locality (sítio) of Louros (‘laurels’); the lane of Olaria, now the Travessa do Lazareto (‘quarantine hospital’), nevertheless lies in the parish of São Gonçalo. According to the same map, the area between the Rua Bela de São Tiago and the building of Tomás Teodoro, on the Calçada do Socorro (‘Succour causeway’), belongs on its northern side to Santa Maria Maior and on its southern side to São Gonçalo. The southern part of the Largo da Forca (‘gallows’) and of the Caminho do Lazareto, up to the point where the locality of Louros begins, must therefore be considered part of the latter parish.