True Cross (Chapel of the)
Original title: Vera Cruz (Capela da)
An old chapel dedicated to the True Cross, whose founding was planned by the discoverer João Gonçalves Zargo; it now belongs to the parish of Quinta Grande, where it surrounds the parish cemetery.
João Gonsalves Zargo,’ says Frutuoso, ‘... passing further down to some very high mountains, there laid out another church of the Vera-Cruz...’. The idea of founding this chapel belongs to the discoverer, although it was built only later, in a year that is not known. It is nevertheless one of the oldest chapels in the diocese. Over time it has undergone various transformations, and nothing of the original building, certainly, survives there at present. It originally formed part of the parish of Câmara de Lobos (‘seals’ den’) or of Ribeira Brava (‘wild river’), and came to belong to the parish (freguesia) of Campanário (‘bell tower’) when the latter was created around the middle of the 16th century. Since 1848, when Quinta Grande (‘large estate’) became an independent parish, the old chapel of the Vera Cruz has belonged to that parish.
It stands in the locality (sítio) to which it gave its own name, and from there one enjoys a fine, wide panorama. It has sometimes served as the parish church, and the parish cemetery lies around it. The feast of its patron saint draws a considerable crowd, especially from the neighbouring parishes. (See Quinta Grande.)
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 01Place
Places mentioned · 06- Vera Cruz · Subject
Câmara de Lobos. Locality named after the chapel.
Vera Cruz is a locality in the parish of Quinta Grande, Madeira, named after the old chapel of the True Cross. The discoverer João Gonçalves Zargo planned the chapel's founding, and it now surrounds the parish cemetery.
- Chapel of the True Cross · Subject
Câmara de Lobos
Sixteenth-century chapel of the True Cross in Achadas da Cruz, which probably gave the parish its name.
- Câmara de Lobos
One of the parishes to which the chapel may originally have belonged.
Parish west of Funchal. The Elucidário traces its name to Zarco's discovery voyage and describes its churches, chapels and collegiate chapter, early settlers, fishing community and renowned vineyards. It also records the parish's localities, boundaries, levadas and population.
- Campanário
Ribeira Brava. Parish to which the chapel belonged from the mid-16th century.
Campanário is a parish in Madeira, formerly part of Câmara de Lobos and later joined to the municipality of Ribeira Brava, drained by the Ribeira do Campanário (or da Lapa). The Elucidário records its landing, its band, its capitania-mor, its tithes paid to the Jesuits, a former chapel of St John founded in 1728, and the vicar sentenced by the Alçada of 1823. It was also the birthplace of Bishop D. Manuel Joaquim Gonçalves de Andrade and the jurist Francisco Justino Gonçalves de Andrade.
- Quinta Grande
Câmara de Lobos. Parish to which the chapel has belonged since 1848.
Quinta Grande is a parish in the municipality of Câmara de Lobos, named after the largest Jesuit estate, which was sold for 140,000 cruzados. It became a curacy in 1820 and was separated from Campanário as an autonomous parish in 1848, with its seat at the chapel of Nossa Senhora dos Remédios, whose feast is celebrated there. It became a julgado of the Funchal comarca in 1927.
- Ribeira Brava
Alternative original parish of the chapel.
Ribeira Brava is one of Madeira's oldest parishes, named after its violent stream, with a town, port and quay. The Elucidário covers its collegiate church and its paintings, its Franciscan convent and chapels, and its São Pedro festival with a boat and sword dance. It also records riots against the metric system and deaths when troops fired on the people during the 1884 election.
People
People mentioned · 02- Gaspar Frutuoso1522–1591
Chronicler quoted on Zargo's laying out of a church of the True Cross.
- João Gonçalves Zarcod. 1467
Discoverer of Madeira, credited with conceiving the foundation of the Vera Cruz chapel.