St Anthony (chapels)

The chapel of St Anthony of Padua (Santo António) in the parish (freguesia) of Santana (‘St Anne’) dates from the second quarter of the 16th century. It was not built in 1730, as Dr Álvaro Rodrigues de Azevedo states, but rebuilt around that time. In 1729 the people asked the ecclesiastical authority for permission to reconstruct it, stating that it had been built by the parishioners roughly two centuries earlier. Its reconstruction was completed on 13 April 1730, the day it was inspected so that it could be blessed and then opened for worship.

On a property that the holder of the entail (morgado) João José de Bettencourt owned in the locality (sítio) of Adegas (‘wine cellars’), in the parish of Ponta do Sol (‘point of the sun’), the house had a small chapel or private oratory, whose dedication we do not know. António Gonçalves de Almeida bought the property and converted the oratory into a chapel with an outside door, dedicating it to St Anthony. The chapel was blessed on 13 June 1853.

In the parish of Santa Maria Maior (‘St Mary Major’) there was a chapel dedicated to St Anthony, founded around 1682 on the entailed estate (morgadio) established by Captain António Teles de Meneses. We believe it to be the chapel whose ruins still stood a few years ago in the street that today keeps the name of Santo António or of the Hospital Velho.

In the parish of Calheta (‘small cove’) there is a chapel dedicated to St Anthony of the Miracles (Santo António dos Milagres), situated at Lombo do Salão (‘hall ridge’), where services are still held. It is the property of Juvenal R. de Vasconcelos (1921).

A chapel that once stood in the parish of Ribeira Brava (‘wild river’), founded by Henrique Brandão Henriques in 1696, was known as Santo António da Malvasia. Its deed of endowment is dated 13 August of the same year.

Yet another chapel dedicated to St Anthony stood in the parish of Ponta do Sol. It rose at the locality of Lugar de Baixo (see that entry) and belonged to the Carvalhal (‘oak grove’) family estate. When this property was sold some thirty years ago, its new owners demolished the house that stood there and the chapel of St Anthony attached to it. On the same site they built a handsome country house and, beside it, had the old chapel of St Anthony rebuilt. It was blessed by the diocesan prelate Dom Manuel Agostinho Barreto on 25 February 1906.

Within the courtyard of the Customs House (see that entry) there still stands a small chapel dedicated to St Anthony, built in 1714 by the superintendent (provedor) João de Aguiar. Above its portico is carved the inscription Ad salem sol.

In the parish (freguesia) of Monte, a short distance from the road that runs alongside the Levada de Santa Luzia (‘St Lucy’s channel’), stands a chapel dedicated to St Anthony, which Manuel Ferreira Frasão had built in 1718.

A chapel that Tristão de França Bettencourt had built in the parish of Santa Luzia (‘St Lucy’) in 1727 was known as Santo António da Mouraria (‘Moorish quarter’).

The parish of Curral das Freiras (‘nuns’ fold’) belonged to the Convent of St Clare (Santa Clara), and the nuns built a chapel of St Anthony there, which had its own chaplain before the parish was created. It was an old building, dating perhaps from the end of the 16th century. When the parish of Curral das Freiras was created in 1790, its seat was established in the chapel of St Anthony, and it remained there for some years until the new parish church was built.

On the Quinta de Santo António, in the parish of Estreito de Câmara de Lobos (‘the narrows of Câmara de Lobos’), stands a chapel with this dedication, built in 1705 by Inácio Viana do Rego. It belonged to Councillor (conselheiro, honorary title of the royal council) António Correia Herédia. It was bought some years ago by Francisco Pinto Correia and is today the property of his heirs (1921).

Captain António Espranger da Câmara built a chapel to St Anthony in the parish of Arco da Calheta (‘arc of Calheta’) in 1724; the deed of endowment is dated 4 June of that year.

There was once a chapel dedicated to St Anthony in the parish of Machico, whose founder and year of construction we do not know.

In the locality (sítio) of Pico (‘peak’), in the parish of Ponta Delgada (‘slender point’), there was a chapel with the same dedication, of which some ruins still remain.

There was also a chapel of this patron saint in the locality of Terra Batista (‘Batista’s land’), in the parish of Porto da Cruz (‘harbour of the cross’), belonging to a family with the surname Nunes Caldeira.

On the Quinta do Pomar, in the parish of Quinta Grande (‘large estate’), next to the fine country house that stands there, the former vicar of Câmara de Lobos (‘seals’ den’), António Silvino Gonçalves de Andrade, had a chapel dedicated to St Anthony built in 1883. This priest, who in his day enjoyed a reputation as a great preacher, was the brother of Dr Francisco Justino Gonçalves de Andrade and Dr João Jacinto Gonçalves de Andrade, whom we have discussed in this Elucidário (volume I, pages 69 and 66). This chapel of St Anthony is today the property of Dr João Francisco de Almada (1921).

In the former Rua da Laranjeira (see that entry), in the city of Funchal, there was a chapel of St Anthony, which the Council ordered to be demolished on 5 February 1836.

There is a chapel dedicated to St Anthony in the town (vila) of Ponta do Sol.