St Philip (chapel)

The Fleming António de Leme held land by sesmaria (royal land grant to settlers on condition of cultivation) in the parish (freguesia) of Santo António (‘St Anthony’), in the locality (sítio) still known today as Quinta do Leme (‘Leme’s estate’), and there he built a house and chapel, which the annotator of the Saudades dates to 1536. From documents we have had occasion to examine, we see that this chapel of St Philip (São Filipe) was rebuilt in 1654 by Inácio da Câmara Leme, the founder’s successor in the administration of this entail. The earthquake of 1748 left it badly ruined, and it was rebuilt once more in 1752 by its administrator, Francisco Aurélio da Câmara Leme.

In the locality that still bears the name of São Filipe (‘St Philip’), in the parish of Santa Maria Maior (‘St Mary Major’), stands a chapel of this dedication, now deconsecrated and in an advanced state of ruin. It was built in 1562 by Filipe Gentil de Limoges and was the seat of the entailed estate (morgadio) he founded that year.

We have said elsewhere that not long ago the following inscription could still be read on a tombstone in this chapel: ‘Tomb of the innocents who were cruelly killed at the Achada (‘plateau’) of this city. 1621.’ We do not know the names of the persons to whom this inscription refers, nor the reasons for those deaths, but it may be supposed that they were members of the Limoges family, to whom the chapel belonged (1921).

Information gathered after that date allows us to state with certainty that the date inscribed on the tomb is 1666, and that the epitaph refers to the burial there of the bones of many children killed by the ‘foundling nurse’ (ama dos expostos) of that time. She took in the ‘foundlings’, killed them and buried them near her home in the well-known locality of Achada, in the parish of São Roque (‘St Roch’). This chapel, which was in an advanced state of ruin, was restored by its owner, the Countess of Torre Bela, and blessed by the diocesan prelate on 13 April 1925.