São Pedro (parish)

São Pedro is the most populous and the most important of the four urban parishes (freguesia) of Funchal. It was within its bounds that the first colonisation and settlement began, because the discoverer Gonçalves Zarco himself made his first settlement there, on the height later called Santa Catarina (‘St Catherine’). On the day the caravels first made for the bay that was to take the name of Funchal, they sought shelter by the islets lying to the west of that bay, as the day was already well advanced, and the captain decided that the discoverers should spend that night there. When they returned to this island from the Kingdom (reino, i.e. mainland Portugal) a second time, to begin the work of colonisation in earnest, the ships again anchored in the shelter of the same islets. The first settlers took refuge aboard them for several days, when the fire raging fiercely through the woods forced them to leave the land scorched by the flames. These islets were later named the Ilhéus da Pontinha (‘little point’), and they lie within the parish of São Pedro.

“

The parish of São Pedro, in the city of Funchal,’ says Dr Álvaro Rodrigues de Azevedo, ‘had its origin in the chapel of St Paul (see that entry), founded by João Gonçalves Zarco, which was served by Franciscan friars and later by the curates of the Funchal Cathedral (Sé), until it was separated from the latter and constituted a parish in its own right by the royal decree (alvará) of King Sebastian of 20 June 1566, with the Ribeira de Santa Luzia (‘St Lucy’) as its boundary to the east and the Ribeira dos Socorridos to the west. It was abolished by the royal decree of 3 March 1579 of the Cardinal-King Henry the Navigator, its urban part being reincorporated into that of the Sé, while from its suburban part the same decree created the parishes of São Roque and São Martinho; but a few years later, by the royal decree of Philip II of 14 August 1587, it was re-established with the boundaries it still has today.

The frequently cited Índice do Registo of the former Crown Revenue Office (Provedoria) records that this parish was created by the royal decree (alvará régio) of 20 July 1566, and not of 20 June 1566, as the annotator of the Saudades states. Its first parish priest was Gaspar Teixeira, whose annual stipend (côngrua) was fixed by the said decree of 20 July 1566 at 15,000 réis (old Portuguese money of account; 1$000 = 1,000 réis, 1:000$000 = one conto = 1,000,000 réis) in cash, one moio (dry measure of grain, 60 alqueires) of wheat and half a pipa (wine cask and measure, c. 400–500 litres) of wine. The royal decree of 20 August 1572 raised this to 25,000 réis, one moio of wheat and one pipa of wine. The royal decrees of 8 May 1591, 17 May 1600, 19 August 1609 and 10 June 1749 raised the annual emoluments respectively to 26,700 réis, two moios of wheat and one pipa of wine; 29,700 réis, two moios of wheat and one pipa of wine; 30,000 réis, two moios of wheat and two pipas of wine; and 60,000 réis, two moios of wheat and two pipas of wine.

The curacy (curato) of this parish (freguesia) was created by the royal decree of 27 August 1589, which assigned the curate an annual stipend of 20,000 réis; the decree of 19 August 1609 added one pipa of wine to this.

This parish had a collegiate church, created by the decree of 26 May 1589, with two beneficed clerics (beneficiado) in addition to the vicar and the curate. The decree of 23 March 1590 gave this collegiate church another beneficed cleric, and that of 24 July of the same year created a fourth; under this last decree each received an annual salary of 6,000 réis in cash and one moio of wheat. The collegiate church also had a treasurer, a preacher and an organist.

The seat of this parish was established in the chapel of St Paul, which we have already described, and there is no doubt that when the parish was restored in 1587 this same chapel served as the parish church, despite its cramped dimensions. We do not know in what year the seat of the parish moved from the chapel of St Paul to the present parish church. Nor do we know when the new church was built. On this point the annotator of the Saudades gives the following information, which is the same as that supplied by the Índice of the Provedoria: ‘Under the decree of 15 June 1598 the fabric fund of the church received 4,000 réis, and by various orders of the Council of the Treasury the following sums were spent on it: in 1688, on works to the church, 900,000 réis; from 1737 to 1739, on the building of the new church, carried out under an award by public auction (arrematação), 6,742,000 réis; in 1742, for the casting of the bells, 217,000 réis; and in 1757, for repairing the damage caused by the earthquake of 1 April 1748, 3,029,730 réis. Also in 1742 the same Council ordered the churchyard, or paved area in front of the church, and the altarpiece of the high altar to be made, but it is not recorded how much was spent on these.’

The present head of state (1921), Mr Manuel Teixeira Gomes, on a visit to Madeira some years ago, discovered with his great learning and refined artistic taste the marvellous paintings in the sacristy of the church of São Pedro, which until then had gone unnoticed by everyone; he later revealed them to the wider public in his book Cartas sem moral nenhuma.

In this parish stand the Convent of St Clare (Santa Clara), which holds the tomb of João Gonçalves Zargo, and the chapels of São João da Ribeira, St Paul, St Catherine, Our Lady of the Peña de Francia (Nossa Senhora da Penha de França), Nossa Senhora das Angústias (see Lambert (quinta)), São Lázaro, Our Lady of Pity (Nossa Senhora da Piedade) (see Moradias de Zargo), Our Lady of Pity (see the Angústias Cemetery), Our Lady of Sorrows (Nossa Senhora das Dores) (see Princess Maria Amélia Hospice), Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (Nossa Senhora da Conceição) and Almas (see those entries). The chapels of Nossa Senhora das Maravilhas, Our Lady of Pity (Igrejinha), São Francisco das Furnas, Nossa Senhora da Salvação, Santa Brígida, Nossa Senhora da Vida, Nossa Senhora da Boa Hora and Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception no longer exist. The chapels of Nossa Senhora da Saúde and of São João, in the Fortress of the Pico (‘peak’), were deconsecrated long ago. We deal with all these chapels at greater length elsewhere.

Within this parish lie the Princess Maria Amélia Hospice, the Asylum for Beggars and Orphans (Asilo da Mendicidade e Órfãos), the Angústias Cemetery, the bishop’s palace with the Diocesan Chancery (Câmara Eclesiástica), the Milk Dispensary (Lactário), the Maternal Aid (Auxílio Maternal), the Theatre, the Jardim Municipal (‘municipal garden’), the São Pedro Palace (‘St Peter’), the Fortress of the Pico, the British cemetery, the Anglican church, the English Telegraph Station, the Dona Maria Amélia Orphanage, the mole (breakwater) and road of the Pontinha, and the quintas (country estates) Vigia, Lambert, Bianchi, Cruzes, Favila, São João, etc., etc.

The parish of São Pedro extends westwards as far as the Ribeiro Seco (‘dry brook’) and northwards as far as the Azinhaga dos Ausentes, on the Santo António road, and the Travessa da Figueira Canhota, on the Achada road. The parish of São Pedro is further bounded by a part of the right bank of the Ribeira de Santa Luzia above the Largo do Torreão (‘turret’); the western half of the Rua dos Ferreiros (‘blacksmiths’), or do Comércio, between that square and the Rua dos Netos; the northern part of the latter street, bounded by the Rua dos Ferreiros and the Rua das Mercês; the Rua de São Pedro; the Rua das Pretas, or de Câmara Pestana, but only from the buildings numbered 70 and 47 onwards (1921); the western half of the Rua de São Francisco; and the Calçada de São Lourenço. The point where the Rua de São Francisco comes out into the Rua da Carreira (‘track’), or do Dr Vieira, marks the division between the parish of São Pedro and that of the Sé. The population of the parish of São Pedro is 7,061 inhabitants (1921).