Although they had been present in Brazil since the first Portuguese expeditions, the Franciscans did not settle here permanently until several decades later.
In this respect, the Franciscan Monastery of Olinda is considered the oldest establishment of the disciples of St Francis on Brazilian soil, the cradle of the Order in Brazil.
The first historical document about it dates back to the time of the Iberian Union – a charter signed by King Philip II of Spain, dated 12 October 1583, granting a donation of land for the construction of the convent.
Between 1500 and 1584 there was no regular presence of the Franciscan Order in Brazil, only small groups of religious on evangelising missions without the establishment of convents.
It wasn’t until 1584 that the creation of a Franciscan Custody was established at the request of Jorge de Albuquerque Coelho, then Governor of Pernambuco, to King Philip II of the Iberian Union.
On 13 March 1584, the petition for the foundation of theCustody of Saint Anthony of Brazil, with its seat in Vila Marim (now Olinda), was approved, with Friar Melchior de Santa Catarina as its first Custos.
On 1 January 1585, the ship carrying the friars responsible for the foundation of the Franciscan Custody of Brazil left the port of Lisbon for Pernambuco.
On 12 April 1585, Friar Melchior de Santa Catarina, Friar Francisco de São Boaventura, appointed by patent of the General of the Order, Friar Francisco dos Santos, Friar Afonso de Santa Maria, Friar Manuel da Cruz, Friar Antônio da Ilha, priests, Friar Antônio dos Mártires, a chorister, and Friar Francisco da Cruz, a layman, disembarked in Olinda.
Thus began the regular activity of the Order, with the construction of the first convent, Nossa Senhora das Neves, in Olinda, and the work of evangelisation through the missions, as well as the service of the settlers.
The friars first lived in a house next to the Church of Misericordia, where they built an oratory where they celebrated Mass and other religious acts.
They stayed in the house for five months because Maria da Rosa, a Franciscan tertiary and widow of Pedro Leitão, a wealthy plantation owner, donated the land she owned to the Franciscan Superior, Friar Melchior de Santa Catarina, and his companions, on which she had built a church and an annexed house for a women’s retreat.
The deed of donation was signed on 27 September 1585, and a few days later, on 4 October, the nuns left the house and went to the church of Nossa Senhora das Neves.
The architect Brother Francisco dos Santos made the design of the Franciscan convent in 1585, as well as the design of the Paraíba convent.
In 1586, the Franciscans began several extensions to the convent, which were completed in June 1590. At the beginning of the 17th century (between 1627 and 1630) further extensions and additions were made.
On 16 February 1630, the Dutch invaded Olinda, but the Franciscans did not abandon the monastery until 24 November 1631, when it was set on fire by the enemy.
With the surrender of the Dutch in 1654, they withdrew from the north-east and soon afterwards the Franciscans reoccupied the convent and carried out repairs to restore what was left.
History of the Franciscan Monastery of Olinda
História do Convento Franciscano de Olinda 08:23
Documentário Convento de São Francisco em Olinda03:07
See also Monuments of Olinda PE
Topography, construction and architecture of the Franciscan Monastery of Olinda
- Topography
- Building construction
- Architectural aspects
- Sacred art in tiles
1 Topography
The Convent of São Francisco is situated on a rugged terrain, in dialogue with the historic landscape of the place, framed by the blue of the sea and the sky. According to records, its original nucleus was built on a plateau (a flat, easily accessible area of land) to level the ground.
The churchyard (an open space in front of a church that can be walled or fenced in) is large and has a beautiful stone cross (a stone or wooden cross erected in churchyards). It is accessed by a slope that is crossed by houses from different architectural periods, but in a beautiful harmony.
The uniqueness of this Franciscan complex lies in the way in which its various components have been put together.
2. The construction
The first construction of this religious complex took place with the arrival of the Franciscan Order in Brazil in 1585, with a project by friar Francisco dos Santos, making it the oldest Franciscan example in the country.
The land donated was a hill with a steep slope towards the coast, a situation that required the filling in of land and the construction of retaining walls to flatten the area where the complex was to be built.
The first nucleus, since the temple was built in several stages, was defined by the body of the church and the primitive structures that would define the cloister (inner courtyard in convents), uncovered and surrounded by arches, but still unadorned.
The Dutch invasion of Olinda, which resulted in the burning of the town in 1631, destroyed a large part of the churches and houses, including this temple.
It was not until 1654, with the expulsion of the Flemish, that the reconstruction of the church began, which lasted until the 18th century, when it became one of the most beautiful and noble architectural ensembles of the Franciscan Order built in Brazil.
It was during this period that the main façade acquired its present appearance, losing the projection of the galilee (porch adjacent to the church, covered and delimited by arcades or colonnades) in relation to the body of the church and the sobriety of the stylistic details in its upper body, and acquiring the arcades (passageway with at least one side with a succession of arches) of the cloister.
A cloister is part of the religious architecture of monasteries, convents, cathedrals and abbeys. It typically consists of four corridors forming a quadrilateral, usually with a garden in the middle, and is the common name given to the life of monks, friars or nuns.
The chapel of the Third Order was built in 1711, perpendicular to the chapel of the First Order, a typical arrangement of the Franciscan school in the north-east.
It is important to note that Saint Francis founded three religious orders: the First Order, for male religious, in 1209; the Second Order, for female religious, in 1212; and the Third or Secular Order, for people of both sexes who did not follow ecclesiastical life, in 1221.
The transition arch from the chapel of the Third Order to the nave (the interior of the church, from the front door to the high altar) of the Church of Our Lady of the Snows was richly carved, and the sacristy (a room next to the high altar for the storage of liturgical vestments and sacred objects) had paintings dating from the late 18th century.
Around 1715, the choir was rebuilt, gradually adding decorative elements that illustrate the Baroque influence in the architecture.
The convent block was built in the second half of the same century as an extension to the cloister.
It is notable for the creation of an open terrace facing the sea, above the cistern.
After a period of expansion and renovation, the Franciscan Temple entered a period of abandonment and decay, especially towards the end of the 19th century, linked to the decision of the Brazilian Empire to prohibit the admission of novices to convents.
However, at the beginning of the 20th century, the Franciscan Order returned to Brazil and continued to improve and expand the monument.
In 1945, work was carried out on the roof of the tower, where the library is located, and later, between 1952 and 1956, further work was carried out.
3. Architectural aspects
The Monastery of Our Lady of the Snows was built by the Franciscan Order during the colonial period.
It occupies only 11.87% of the total area, the rest being covered by a rich and lush tropical vegetation.
The architectural programme of the convent, which belongs to the First Order, includes the church with a single nave, choir, sacristy, presbytery (located above the entrance door and at the beginning of the nave, for choral singing or prayer), cloister, bell tower and cemetery with the cross.
The Franciscan complex in Olinda is made up of three floors, divided into the convent area and the Third Order.
For a better understanding, the ground floor is divided into three areas:
- the private area for religious, with services and a library.
- the public area, which is made up of the salon (where inmates of convents or religious colleges receive visits), the auditorium, the open terrace, the cloister, the chapel of Santa Ana, the chapter chapel and the sacristy.
- The last area corresponds to the Third Order, located to the north of the complex, where only the nave and the chapel of São Roque are freely accessible.
The upper floor of the Third Order houses the Consistory and the Presidency.
The convent block is the private area of the religious. On the first floor are the priests’ cells, the theology classrooms and the administrative offices.
On the second floor there are some cells, a library and a recreation room.
Quadrangular in shape and built in stages on a solid stone foundation, it still has a cloister, which is the central open space of the convent and is considered the main area of the complex. It is Renaissance-inspired, with arcades that follow the Tuscan order and are surmounted by galleries.
The convent is characterised by its stone cornerstones.
The façade of the block facing Ladeira de São Francisco is marked on the ground floor by oculi (circular or oval openings or windows in gables or pediments that provide internal lighting and ventilation) and on the upper floors by windows with The convent’s construction technique is structural masonry in stone and brick, a typical Portuguese-Brazilian self-supporting feature.
The roof has a wooden structure with scissors and purlins, and is covered with ceramic tiles. The first floor consists of floorboards on a clay floor.
Partition walls of rammed earth or stucco are laid on this wooden structure.
In some areas of the cloister, wooden beams rest on sandstone columns.
The floor is covered with handmade terracotta and hydraulic tiles, which add to the value of the monument.
The façade of the church has an elaborate frontispiece (the front of a building) with a galilee, an element adopted in Brazil by the Franciscans and Benedictines.
The frontispiece is divided horizontally into three parts: the first is the galilee, with colonnades and full arches; the second is delimited by the choir windows, with straight lintels and stone mouldings; and the third is the pediment (triangular top in classical buildings, with three parts: the cymatium, the pediment and the tympanum), with volutes (a spiral ornament) and a central niche with images, surmounted by a central cross.
It is interesting to note that the volutes give movement to the façade on the upper floors, almost turning them into a single pediment, contrasting with the regularity of the whole.
The bell tower is unique and is set back from the façade, as is typical of the Franciscan Order. It is covered by a dome (a revolutionary vault formed by an arch revolving around an axis).
The harmonious composition is crowned by pinnacles (the highest point of a building), the pediment and the bell tower.
Inside the church, the nave is rectangular and the choir is flat.
The narthex or galilee was delimited by the wooden choir, which is perfectly embedded in the side walls of the monument, without the support of columns.
The existing side altars date from the 18th century and the tribunes (a kind of balcony from which religious ceremonies are attended) are richly decorated.
On the side walls of the nave there is a large tiled panel depicting religious scenes. The ceiling of the nave has a unique octagonal honeycomb detail, arranged in a vault (the whole ceiling is concave), an architectural detail also applied to the ceiling of the presbytery.
The stone transept that marks the choir is not very elaborate.
The sacristy is located at the back of the monument and has generous proportions. It has been designed with two arcades as chapels protruding from the main body, one of which has a beautiful Lioz marble washbasin.
The walls of the sacristy are also decorated with a large tiled panel, a decorated ceiling and unique rosewood furniture.
The Chapel of São Roque was built perpendicular to the convent church as a specific architectural solution for Franciscan convents in the north-east of Brazil. It is richly ornamented and has a wooden ceiling with artesoado details – trimmed by artisans.
The Chapel of Santanna is the main entrance to the Franciscan complex, with a symmetrical floor plan and quadrangular shape. The interior walls are tiled, probably from the 18th century, and the ceiling is richly painted.
The altar of St. Anne is in the Portuguese Baroque style.
The chapter house, accessed from the cloister, is small but richly decorated with carvings on the altarpiece (a carved wooden or stone structure on which an altar rests, with niches for images or frames for paintings) and paintings on the ceiling.
It is recorded that the tiles on the interior walls date from 1660.
The existing cemetery, of generous proportions, integrates the religious architecture and the historical site, crossed by the Ladeira de São Francisco. Due to a recent architectural intervention, it is located at a lower level than the rest of the complex.
It contains a beautiful stone cross.
From the above, it can be seen that the Franciscan complex, in addition to its beautiful architectural composition, has a rich collection of integrated movable property that adds artistic and historical value to the monument.
The panels of Portuguese tiles on the interior walls of the nave depict religious scenes, and the honeycomb ceiling has a unique stylistic composition.
In addition to its religious use, the Franciscan complex is also used for tourist, festive and professional purposes. The convent currently houses the theology course of the Franciscan Institute of Theology of Olinda (IFTO), which is taught in three classrooms on the upper floor.
4. Sacred art in tiles
Among the various aesthetic expressions of Franciscan spirituality are the 17th and 18th century Portuguese tile panels that decorate the first building of the Order of Friars Minor – O.F.M. – erected in Brazil, in Olinda-PE, built in several stages, from 1585, from the existing Church of Our Lady of the Snows, through the great fire perpetrated by the Dutch in Olinda in 1631, among other events, to the present harmonious Baroque architectural ensemble, composed of the Chapel of Our Lady of the Snows and the Chapel of the Friars Minor. In several stages, from 1585, from the existing Church of Our Lady of the Snows, through the great fire caused by the Dutch in Olinda in 1631, among other events, to the present harmonious Baroque architectural ensemble made up of the chapels – with ceilings lined with magnificent paintings of Popes and Franciscan saints and religious stories – of São Roque, the Chapter House, Sant’Ana, and the vast library with many books in German, as well as the stone cross in front of the temple.
See also History of the introduction of Portuguese tiles in Brazil.
The walls of the cloister of the convent are decorated with sixteen large blue and white tiles, alluding to the life and death of Saint Francis of Assisi. They are a striking example of Pernambuco’s centuries-old devotion to the “Beggar of God”, referred to by Dante Alighieri in the Divine Comedy – “A sun has risen for the world! -The dramatic expressiveness of the panel alludes to the well-known episode in the small chapel of San Damiano, near Assisi, in which the saint is depicted kneeling and looking at the crucifix when he hears Jesus say to him: “Vade Francisce, Repara Domus Meam” (“Go, Francis, and repair my house!”).
Visitors to the beautiful sacristy of the convent, with its imposing rosewood furnishings, will see not only the iconographic beauty of the ceiling, but also the tiled panel in which the Child Jesus appears to St Anthony, and then the admirable artistic representation of St Francis of the Wounds receiving the stigmata of Christ from a seraphim gliding over the rocks between the Tiber and the Arno.
Among the many other examples of Baroque tile art that decorate, for example, the sides of the nave of the Church of Our Lady of the Snows, on various landscapes and biblical scenes, including Latin epigraphs, those with a Marian theme stand out, as well as the remarkable panel “Circumcision of Jesus Christ”, with a strongly realistic tone, with the Child surrounded by several people, looking at St Joseph and the Virgin Mary, the frame surmounted by the caption “Vocatum est nomen ejus Jesus. Luc.2.” (“He was called Jesus”).
The walls of the Chapel of St Anne are still covered with numerous tiles depicting the life of the Mother of God and the Holy Family.
The Franciscan spirit lives on in the sacred iconography of these tiles, in the paintings and other works of art dedicated to the spreading of the Christian faith, and in the friars and novices of this welcoming environment, selfless religious – “poverty, obedience and chastity” – willing to perpetuate the Franciscan principles based on the Gospel, in favour of building a peaceful, fraternal and charitable society.
