Tombs
Original title: Túmulos
Notes that Madeiran churches have few notable tombs, citing the Brandão family mausoleums in the Carmo church and the tomb in Santa Clara said to hold Zargo.
The churches of this diocese contain no tombs whose showy architecture, rich marbles or fine ornamentation would catch the visitor’s eye. Only on the side walls of the chancel of the church of Carmo (Carmelite church) are there two mausoleums which, without being grand or of remarkable artistic refinement, are nevertheless regarded as a work of value that deserves to be visited and duly appreciated. These tombs belong to the family of the church’s founder, and on two slabs of black marble the following epitaphs can be read: ‘Tomb of Pedro Gonçalves Brandão, and of his brother Manuel Martins Brandão and their heirs’ and ‘Tomb of António de Carvalhal Esmeraldo, fidalgo (nobleman of the lesser nobility) of His Majesty’s household, and of his wife Dona Maria Brandão’. In the church of the Convent of St Clare (Santa Clara) is the tomb of Gaspar Mendes de Vasconcelos, in which the discoverer Gonçalves Zargo is said to be buried (volume II, page 31).
In this article
Place
Places mentioned · 03- Tombs · Subject
Funchal
The Elucidário notes that Madeiran churches contain few notable tombs. It cites the Brandão family mausoleums in the Carmo church and the tomb in Santa Clara said to hold Zargo.
- Carmo church
Funchal. Holds two Brandão family mausoleums.
The Igreja do Carmo is a church in Sé parish, Funchal, built after 1508, with an adjoining hospice where the Carmelites lived. It holds two Brandão family mausoleums and the grave of Governor D. Diogo Pereira Forjaz Coutinho, and the Procissão do Triunfo set out from it.
- Church of St Clare
Funchal. Holds the tomb said to contain Zargo.
The church of Santa Clara in Funchal was originally the chapel of Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Cima, built by João Gonçalves Zarco as his family burial place and later absorbed into the convent of Santa Clara. The Elucidário discusses the uncertain location of Zarco's remains, the tombs of later captains-donatary found there in 1919, its role as the destination of the quincentenary pilgrimage, and the shell that hit it during Mass in the 1917 bombardment.
People
People mentioned · 06-
Royal household nobleman buried in the Carmo church.
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His tomb in Santa Clara church is said to contain Zargo's remains.
- João Gonçalves Zarcod. 1467
Discoverer of Madeira, said to be buried in Santa Clara.
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Brother of Pedro, named in the Carmo church epitaph.
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Wife of António de Carvalhal Esmeraldo, buried in the Carmo church.
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Named in an epitaph on a family tomb in the Carmo church.