São Gonçalo (parish)

At the eastern end of Funchal lies the parish (freguesia) of São Gonçalo (‘St Gonçalo’), one of the five suburban parishes of this municipality (concelho). It borders the parish of Santa Maria Maior (‘St Mary Major’) to the west and that of Caniço (‘reed’) to the east. Squeezed between these two parishes, it stretches from the edge of the ocean to the summits of the hills that enclose part of Funchal. The land that makes up this parish originally belonged to the parish of Santa Maria Maior. When that parish moved its seat to the church that later served as the Cathedral, the same land was incorporated into it as well, and it became part of the parish of Santa Maria Maior once again when Funchal was divided into two parishes, around 1558.

The chapel of Our Lady of the Snows, the original seat of the parish, dates from the 16th century, as we have already mentioned, and is among the oldest in this diocese. It underwent various alterations over the years, but by the beginning of the 17th century it was already too small for the population of the parish. Despite repeated efforts, it was only at the end of the 17th century that an order of the Council of the Treasury (Conselho da Fazenda), dated 15 October 1697, directed that a new church be built. Construction began at the beginning of the 18th century.

This parish once had the chapels of Nossa Senhora da Incarnação (Our Lady of the Incarnation) and Our Lady of Pity, and those of Our Lady of the Snows and Nossa Senhora da Boa Nova (Our Lady of the Good News) still exist. We deal with them elsewhere.

The first settlement of this parish and the first farming in its area must, like those of the other parishes of this municipality (concelho), date from the colonisation and clearing of land that João Gonçalves Zarco began in Funchal immediately after the discovery and the fire that swept through the dense woods which no doubt covered the whole length of the valley. Of one early settler, the most distinguished of Zargo’s companions in the work of discovery, we know that he held extensive sesmaria (royal land grant to settlers on condition of cultivation) lands in this parish. They stretched from the right bank of the stream to which he gave his name as far as the Ribeira de João Gomes, and were bounded to the north by the ridges of the uplands. This was Gonçalo Aires, whom we have already discussed at some length on page 21 of volume II of this work. Within the bounds of this parish lie the magnificent quinta (country estate) of Palheiro (volume III, page 43) and the lazaretto of Gonçalo Aires, at the mouth of the stream of the same name (volume II, page 223 ff.). The principal localities are: Forca, Louros, Murteiras, São João de Latrão, Salões, Fonte, Boa Nova, Lombo da Quinta, Ribeira da Quinta, Palheiro do Ferreiro, Algarvio, Bica de Pau, Igreja, Ribeiro Seco, Neves and Cancela. It has 2,987 inhabitants (1921).