St John the Baptist (chapels)

More commonly known as São João da Ribeira (‘St John of the stream’), this chapel stands on the right bank of the westernmost stream of Funchal. Over time the stream has been called the Santa Catarina, São Paulo, São Lázaro, Santo António and São João stream, the last being the name it bears today. Some attribute the foundation of this chapel to João Gonçalves Zarco. It is undoubtedly one of the oldest in the diocese and one of the few from the 15th century still standing, although nothing of the original building survives. The Franciscan friars who accompanied the discoverer to this island built a small monastery beside the chapel and remained there until the Convent of St Francis was built in what was then the town (vila) of Funchal. Frutuoso says that, ‘the place being deserted, and a friar there… having hanged himself, these religious set up a house further down…’.

This account differs from that of the annotator of the ‘Island History’ (Historia Insulana), who states that the Franciscans ‘lived as hermits… and eleven years after the discovery, their number having increased… they gathered in community in the hospice (hospício) and chapel of St John the Baptist, which they began to build in 1432 with some alms and the labour of their own hands, without Zargo having founded the chapel…; in 1459 the friars left the hospice of St John the Baptist and set sail for Portugal…; fifteen years later Friar Rodrigo da Arruda arrived on the island…, and he re-established the community in the same hospice of St John the Baptist… Around 1476 the friars settled in St Francis’. This information from Dean Gonçalves de Andrade, which seems to us the most accurate, was drawn from the Franciscan chronicles, and he gives it as a refutation of the assertions of Father António Cordeiro.

At the beginning of the 18th century a violent flood of the stream destroyed the chapel and part of the adjoining hospice, and the National Treasury (Fazenda Nacional) rebuilt them in 1720. The flash flood (aluvião) of 1803 also caused them considerable damage.

In 1762 the diocesan bishop, Dom Gaspar Afonso da Costa Brandão, founded in this chapel a confraternity of St John the Baptist to maintain religious services there, but we believe it did not last long. Around the middle of the 19th century António Ferreira Nogueira and Manuel Fernandes Jardim carried out important repairs there at their own expense, restoring the chapel to worship. In former times it was the centre of a popular pilgrimage, with pilgrims coming from all over the island. Today the novenas and feast of the patron saint are celebrated with remarkable splendour and large crowds from the city and its surroundings. The Serões published an interesting and detailed article by the Madeiran writer João dos Reis Gomes describing the place, the chapel, the arraial (open-air popular festival at a church feast) and the festivities of the Espírito Santo (‘Holy Spirit’) that were once held there.

In the locality (sítio) of Lombo de São João (‘St John’s ridge’), in the parish (freguesia) of Ponta do Sol (‘point of the sun’), there is a chapel of the same dedication, whose date of construction we do not know. It belonged to the Viscount of São João.

In 1700, in the locality of Serrado da Adega (‘wine-cellar field’) in the parish of Câmara de Lobos (‘seals’ den’), António Correia Henriques and his wife Dona Maria da Câmara founded the chapel of St John the Baptist, which they endowed by a notarial deed of 17 June of that year.

On the stream of Calheta (‘small cove’) stand the ruins of the chapel of St John the Baptist, built on the quinta (country estate) of São João, seat of the entailed estate (vínculo) established by Captain Manuel de Figueiroa, who founded this chapel in 1651. As it had fallen into serious disrepair, Dona Guiomar Quiteria Betencourt de Atouguia, widow of João Albuquerque e Freitas, rebuilt it in 1770, and a licence for its blessing was granted on 19 August of the same year.

In the parish of Campanário (‘bell tower’) there was a chapel dedicated to St John the Baptist, founded in 1728 by Father João Betencourt da Câmara. In 1813 it was administered by the holder of the entail (morgado) Luís Sauvayre.

There was a chapel of the same dedication in the parish of Santana (‘St Anne’), built in 1660 by Canon Domingos Gonçalves de Alvarenga.

It seems that there was another chapel of St John the Baptist in the parish of Calheta, at Lombo do Atouguia (‘Atouguia’s ridge’). It still exists, but is known today as São Pedro de Alcântara. It may originally have had two dedications, which would not be a unique case on this island.