Exploring Sacred Recife: A Religious Tourism Route in Pernambuco

Sacred Recife is a religious tourism route where visitors can get to know the churches and basilicas, as well as explore the architecture, history, culture and religion.

Recife has a sacred art heritage that few cities in Brazil have. History, culture and religion have always gone hand in hand in the construction of Recife. In order to better understand this rich universe, the Recife City Hall has created the Sacred Recife project.

High Altar of the Golden Chapel

Since November 2014, Sacred Recife has been offering guided tours of the city’s most important temples. During these visits, tourists have the opportunity to learn about the history of each building, its architectural peculiarities and the importance it has for Recife.

Currently, seven temples are part of the Sacred Recife circuit: Madre de Deus, Capela Dourada, Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Homens Pretos do Recife, Basílica de Nossa Senhora do Carmo, Santa Tereza D’Ávila, da, Ordem Terceira do Carmo, Igreja Nossa Senhora de Boa Viagem, Basílica de Nossa Senhora da Penha and Sinagoga Kahal-Zur Israel.

All are located in the city centre and in Recife Antigo.

Video “Sacred Recife Itinerary

Main churches on the Sacred Recife Route

1. Golden Chapel
2. Church of Our Lady of the Rosary of the Black Men
3. Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Recife PE
4. Church of St Teresa of Avila of the Third Carmelite Order
5. Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue in Recife PE
6. Basilica of Our Lady of Penha in Recife PE
7. Church of Our Lady of Boa Viagem in Recife PE

1. Golden Chapel

The Golden Chapel, also known as the Chapel of the Third Order of St Francis of Recife or the Novices’ Chapel, is part of the Holy Recife.

Its foundation stone was laid on 13 May 1696 by Captain General Caetano de Melo Castro.

The Portuguese stonemason Captain Antonio Fernandes de Matos was in charge of the construction.

The zeal for the work was so great that, with only the jewels (given as alms) of the board of directors and the alms of the third brothers, the chapel could be opened to the public on September 15, 1697, after an investment of 1,365$010 (one thousand three hundred and sixty-five contos and ten réis).

“On 15 September 1697, sixteen months after the start of construction, the chapel was inaugurated with all solemnity by the Visiting Commissioner, Father Jerônimo da Ressurreição, who celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at the high altar”.

The chapel remained under construction until 1724, when all the work was considered complete. It is entirely carved from cedar wood in the Baroque style and covered with plaster and gold leaf.

The Golden Chapel of the Venerable Third Order of St Francis of Recife is monumental for its gold. This richness is an affirmation of the Baroque style that emerged at the artistic end of the 17th century, under the influence of Louis XV in France and King João V in Portugal, during the financial heyday of Pernambuco.

The decoration of the chapel reflects the opulent atmosphere of the time, full of turned furniture, carved jacaranda and burnt cedar.

The Golden Chapel is a striking example of this style, with rich and vibrant paintings that are among the most expressive manifestations of religious art in Pernambuco.

The canvases and panels, despite the challenges of time and neglect, still bear witness to the glorious revelation of artists of the past, whose names unfortunately remain unknown.

“Two long panels on the side walls show the Franciscan martyrs. The missionary friars travelled throughout Europe and other continents.

One day, five friars passed through Coimbra on their way to Morocco in Africa, where they were going to preach to the Muslims. When they arrived in Morocco, they preached to the pagans, but were arrested by the king and sentenced to death by beheading on 16 January 1220.

The remains of the martyrs were transported to Europe and, passing through Coimbra, were placed in the Church of the Monastery of Santa Cruz (extract from the book “Francisco mostrar o caminho”, p. 38 by Br. Hugo Baggio, OFM).

These two altarpieces were made between 1707 and 1710.

The gilding of the panels was completed between 1699 and 1700 and between 1715 and 1717.

The tile panels that decorate the Golden Chapel, all of which are of the type found in various Franciscan churches in Brazil, were acquired in 1704. They show simple figures with profane motifs.

The carvings found in the Golden Chapel represent the art and civilisation of past generations, although the study of this speciality is difficult and technically rare.

Between the Golden Chapel and the Church of the Convent of Santo Antônio in Recife is a huge iron railing. The original railing, made in 1968 by the Franciscan brother Luiz Machado, has been replaced.

All the images in the Golden Chapel are Portuguese, except for the image of Our Lady, patron saint of the novices, which was carved from cedar wood between 1866 and 1867 by the Pernambuco master carver Manuel da Silva Amorim.

He is also known for having made the image of Senhor Bom Jesus dos Passos, who takes part in the Lenten procession every year.

The Golden Chapel, listed since 30 November 1937 by the National Historical and Geographical Artistic Heritage Institute(IPHAN), is considered a National Monument.

Many years ago it stopped performing weddings and other liturgical acts and is now considered a museum.

Tourists from various countries and all Brazilian states visit the Golden Chapel every day.

In addition, students from various schools and universities attend classes given by professors of Baroque, Architecture and Art. The average annual number of visitors is twenty thousand.

2. Church of Our Lady of the Rosary of the Black Men

On the Holy Recife Route, the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary of the Black Men, located on Rua Larga do Rosário in the Santo Antônio neighbourhood, was built in 1630 by the Brotherhood of the Rosary of the Black Men, an association formed by black slaves.

It is important to note that the Africans transported to Brazil as slaves belonged to different tribes (or nations), such as those of Angola, Benguela, Cambinda, Mozambique, Congo, Cassanges, among others.

Each of these tribes had its own languages (or dialects), customs (such as the council of elders and festivals) and specific sacred and religious rituals (rites of the Xangô, the feasts of the dead and the kings).

In the Congo, in particular, blacks had certain privileges, such as the right to elect a king (in the native language, Muchino riá Congo) and to rule over people from other African nations, whether Creole or African, free or slave.

In this context, the first commitment of the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Rosary of the Black Men, which authorised the coronation of a king of the Congo at its festivities, is recorded on May 8, 1711.

In order to survive the pain of slavery and exile (both from their homeland and from family and friends), slaves in their new habitat banded together and harmonised their ancestral rites as best they could.

In this way, religious associations provided an important link through which blacks could express their need for defence and protection, their desire for freedom, charity towards their neighbours and human solidarity.

The festivities of the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Black Rosary consisted of dances and drumming that were not part of the Catholic liturgy. For this reason, the rituals performed by these brothers were banned by the Inquisition.

The quilombos in particular, both the Palmares and the others between Cabo de Santo Agostinho and the São Francisco river, were an expression of the associative spirit of the Africans. This associative tendency, which originated in the quilombos (rural communities), also spread to urban areas.

The Brotherhood maintained the coronation system found in Africa, with maracatu rituals and processions, with archers at the head, two strings of bridesmaids, religious symbols, decorated dolls, alligators, cats, dignitaries and, finally, the King and Queen of the Congo, followed by musicians.

On the first Sunday in October 1645, according to the records, Henrique Dias celebrated with his black brothers in the Church of Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Homens Pretos, with all the pomp of their patron saint.

Also recorded in the books of the Brotherhood, up to 1888, are all the coronations of the kings and queens of Angola, Congo and Cambinda. These coronations gave rise to maracatu, one of the most beautiful and expressive manifestations of North-Eastern folklore.

The Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Rosary of the Black Men, in colonial Brazil, despite the precarious condition of its members, spared no effort to build temples as rich as those built by the nobility, either by providing free labour or by buying materials.

In this regard, there are documents drawn up by the various treasurers over the centuries. The friars often paid their debts by making sweets.

In one of the registers, for example, the following items are listed as payments “to the players of the dances, seven patacas; viola strings, 640; and two more pairs of shoes to the dancers, with an alms paid to the chaplain”.

In 1739 the façade of the temple was in ruins. The Brotherhood decided to build a new facade.

The Church of the Black Men saw famous carvers such as Manuel Pais de Lima (responsible for the frontispiece) and Manuel Alvarez, as well as a number of carpenters and joiners who worked hard over a long period to restore the building.

The rebuilding of the temple began in 1750 and was completed in 1777. Inspired by Franciscan monasteries, the church became an icon of Baroque art. In terms of style, the building is typical of those that existed in the second half of the 18th century.

The building is colonial in style, but some of its altars are rococo.

The same goes for its façade: simple and authentic to the 18th century, it has a tower, a high pediment with volutes and a rosary, which replaces the traditional coats of arms of Pernambuco churches.

The façade of the church has five large doors. In the niche of one of them there is a secular image of Our Lady of the Rosary from the time of the church’s foundation, as well as an old image of St Benedict in the consistory dating from 1753.

The carvings on the high altar, the painted panel on the original ceiling (the image of the Virgin Mary flanked by mulatto cherubs handing the rosary to St Dominic, the inspiration for the Order) and the furniture in the sacristy are well preserved.

There is also an art gallery in the side corridor.

The image of the patron saint, one of the most beautiful examples of Luso-Brazilian art, deserves special mention: it is life-size, made of polychrome wood, with glass eyes and silver utensils. Inside, the pilasters, architraves and arches are inlaid with jasper.

With the exception of Our Lady of the Rosary, Our Lady of the Good Time and Saint Dominic, all the other images on the altars are of black saints: Saint Benedict, Saint Balthasar, Saint Iphigenia, Saint Moses, Saint Anthony of Catalagirona and Saint Elesbão.

The religious system of the Brotherhood changed with the advent of the Republic, when it began to accept people of all colours, with the right to vote and be judged, as well as the right to change religious festivals and the administrative system.

In this way the Brotherhood of Black Men came to conform to the circumstances and canons in force in Catholic Brotherhoods and religious orders.

At the beginning of the 20th century, an unpleasant incident occurred between the brotherhoods of São Benedito and the Third Order of São Francisco: When they moved into the convent of Santo Antônio in Recife, the black brothers began to notice the contempt of the brothers of the Third Order, as well as a series of unreasonable demands on the part of the latter – white, wealthy and prominent men.

On 29 September 1907, after a general assembly, as a result of this contempt, the black brothers of São Benedito decided to go out in procession, carrying the platform with the image of their patron saint – the venerated black saint – they left the Church of the Third Order and asked for shelter in the temple of the brothers of Nossa Senhora do Rosário.

3. Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Recife PE

After the Dutch were expelled from Pernambuco, the authorities were reluctant to build a Carmelite convent in Recife. They preferred to concentrate their efforts on the renovation of the convent in Olinda, which had been ruined after the Dutch invasion.

In time, a consensus was reached and the land on which the ruins of Maurício de Nassau‘s former palace stood was donated to the Carmelites, who built a church dedicated to Our Lady of Desterro on the site.

At the same time there was an institutional reform in the Carmelite order, known as the Touraine or Turonian reform (from Tours, France). The Carmelites of Recife accepted the renewal, while those of Olinda rejected it.

Thus, after a while, the Carmel in Recife flourished, while the convent in Olinda stagnated and even went through a few years of decay. At the end of the 17th century, with the support of Captain Diogo Cavalcanti de Vasconcelos, a veteran of the war against the Dutch and brother-in-law of André Vidal de Negreiros, the Carmelites of Recife began building a new church dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Work on the church and convent of the Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel lasted over a hundred years, beginning around 1680 and continuing until the end of the 18th century, when the tower and façade were completed.

The church has nine altars: the high altar (dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel), six side altars and two large altars in the transept (one dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament and the other to Bom Jesus and St Joseph).

The frontispiece of the church is one of the most imposing in Pernambuco, with many volutes carved in stone. The tower, 50 metres high, is topped by one of the most elaborate onions of Brazilian Baroque.

In 1917, Pope Benedict XV raised the church to the dignity of “Patriarchal Vatican Basilica“, granting it various indulgences and specific jurisdictional characteristics. In 1919, Our Lady of Mount Carmel was proclaimed the patron saint of Recife.

Throughout the 20th century, under the pretext of promoting progress, local politicians made disastrous changes to Recife’s historic centre, contributing to the degradation of the area and the de-characterisation of this important part of Brazilian history. However, the Basílica do Carmo, like other local churches, still stands in its original beauty, a reminder of a time when Pernambuco was one of Brazil’s most prosperous regions.

According to historian Flávio Guerra, the image of Our Lady is the same one that was brought to Olinda from Portugal and saved from destruction by the Dutch (Calvinists) when they invaded the city.

4. Church of St Teresa of Avila of the Third Order of Carmel

On the Holy Recife route, the Church of Santa Teresa D’Ávila is located in the Pátio do Carmo and is part of the Holy Recife, next to the Basilica of the same name.

Overshadowed by its famous neighbour and tucked away at the end of a corridor of beautiful palm trees, it unfortunately goes unnoticed by most passers-by hurrying through the centre of Recife.

Construction of the church was completed in 1710 (consecrated in 1835) after ten years. If we compare this with the eighty years it took to build the Carmo Basilica, we can say that the church took very little time to complete. This was due to the willingness of the members of the Third Order of Carmo to spend all the resources necessary to build it in the shortest possible time and with the greatest luxury.

It’s worth noting that these members were merchants, plantation owners and others. To this day, the Third Order of Carmel is made up of lay people, i.e. people who are not part of the priesthood (there are no nuns or brothers). Its patron saint, St Teresa of Avila (or St Teresa of Jesus), was born in the province of Avila, Kingdom of Castile (Spain), and lived between 1515 and 1582.

She lived a life of exemplary devotion to prayer, played a fundamental role in the reform of the Order of Carmel and was one of the most important writers on ecclesiastical subjects. A gifted writer, she drew on her personal experience to explain the four stages of prayer: recollection, silence, union and ecstasy.

Despite this devotion, St Teresa of Avila was persecuted by the Catholic Inquisition for the way she expressed her ideas and for talking about “spiritual orgasm” in her writings. There is evidence that she was not killed because of her father’s strong influence with the king.

A visit to the Church of Santa Tereza D’Ávila of the Third Order of Carmo offers the opportunity to see the largest collection of paintings in honour of the saint in the world. Like the other churches from this period, its architectural style is Baroque in its final phase, full of characteristic Rococo ornamentation.

The paintings in the nave are by João de Deus Sepúlveda (18th century), while those in the entrance are by the freed slave from Pernambuco, Manoel de Jesus Pinto. At the time, blacks were not allowed to attend church.

There is also a rare crystal chandelier in the nave, but the main attraction is the paintings on the ceiling. Among them are some rarities, such as a painting of the saint in her underwear (for the time, of course) and two others of the ‘bad thing’. Do you want to look?

The side altars represent six stages of the Passion of Christ. There is an important detail in the gilding technique: unlike the Golden Chapel, where gold leaf was applied, here gold dust was ‘blown’ over the fresh paint.

The main altar has the images of Jesus Christ and Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the centre, with St Joseph “in boots” (a rarity) on the right and the patron saint St Teresa on the left.

Have you noticed anything different about the image of Jesus? His head is turned to the right and his features are very pained in the last moment of his life. There are only two such images in the world (the other is in Ouro Preto).

In the side niches are the images of St. Elias, the spiritual father of all Carmelites, and his successor, St. Elisha. It’s difficult to distinguish the two images because they are so similar (St Elias is on the left, next to Jesus). The smaller images at the bottom are of John Paul II and St Teresa.

On the left side of the altar is a painting of one of the most important moments in the life of St Teresa: the Transverberation of the Heart.

The sacristy is closed to visitors, but it’s worth insisting on a visit. As well as 18th-century colonial furniture, there are beautiful images of St Teresa of Jesus, Our Lady of Solitude and St Joseph (from left to right), and reproductions of the most important passages from the life of St Teresa of Avila.

Finally, the area next to the church contains the tombs of important members of the Third Order of Carmel, such as the Baron of Casa Forte and others.

5. Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue in Recife PE

The Israeli community has been part of life in Pernambuco since colonial times, preserving its cultural and religious traditions.

More than just a religion, Judaism is linked to the history of a people that became a nation three thousand years ago. Today, the Jewish Federation of Pernambuco (FIPE) estimates that there are around 1,500 Jews in the state – the vast majority living in the capital and having little impact on the daily life of the city.

This scenario is very different from the 17th century, when the Jewish population of Recife was similar to that of today, but in a province with just over 10,000 inhabitants. To be considered Jewish, one had to be the son of a Jewish mother or have converted to Judaism.

The first influx of Jews to Recife took place in the 17th century, bringing people from the Iberian Peninsula who were fleeing the religious inquisition. In Portugal, many Jews converted en masse to Christianity as a result of this pressure and became known as New Christians.

Christian converts and those fleeing conversion arrived in Recife and practised Jewish rites and customs indoors to avoid accusations of heresy.

Conversion and hidden practices were not an option; crypto-Jews – as those who practised their faith in secret came to be known – were certain to die at the stake in a public square if found by the Inquisition.

The conversion process could take up to two years, during which time Jewish history and culture were studied, as well as a little Hebrew. At the end of this period, the person attends a Beit Din (a kind of rabbinical court), made up of three members who judge whether the person is fit to join Judaism.

Jewish history researcher Odmar Braga points out that even before the first great migration, which took place in the 17th century, there were already arrivals of new Hispanic-Portuguese Christians on Pernambuco soil. “Two synagogues existed between 1580 and 1595. One in Alto da Ribeira and the other in the Camaragibe mill, owned by the same family,” he explains.

In the 17th century, the Dutch invasions changed this scenario, albeit temporarily. “Holland was a Calvinist country that defended different religious colours. This made it possible for Judaism to be practised freely in Recife between 1630 and 1654. The inquisitorial Portuguese left the scene and the tolerant Dutch came in,” says Tachlitsky.

Jewish Traditions

At 8 days old, Jewish boys undergo circumcision, the removal of the foreskin from the penis. At 13 they take part in the Bar Mitzvah, which marks their “religious majority”. The Bat Mitzvah for girls takes place at the age of 12.

After the arrival of the Dutch and the resulting religious freedom, Braga reports that the remnants of the Alto da Ribeira and Camaragibe synagogues, together with their children, circumcised themselves and founded the Manguén Abraham Synagogue. “Later, they were also responsible for founding the Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue,” she says.

Researcher and founder of the Jewish Historical Archive of Pernambuco, Tânia Kaufman, says that under Dutch rule, this Jewish contingent of Iberian origin, called Sepharadites, did not have to hide their faith, unlike the New Christians who arrived in the city at the beginning of colonisation.

They found a Jewish atmosphere in Recife and began to enjoy the protection of João Maurício de Nassau‘s government, as well as the privileges of the social and economic elite of the time.

In this favourable scenario, Jewish immigration reached its peak. Odmar Braga describes the arrival of Rabbi Isaac Aboab da Fonseca, who had the Catholic name of Simão da Fonseca and studied to become a rabbi after his family fled to Amsterdam, as the peak. Tânia Kaufman sees this event as a sign that Jews had begun to put down roots in the city, to the point that the first rabbi in the Americas was possible.

“It was also at this time that the first synagogue in the Americas(Kahal Zur Israel) was built in one of the mansions on Rua do Bom Jesus, then known as Rua dos Judeus (Street of the Jews),” says Kaufman. Construction of the synagogue began in 1638 and was completed in 1641.

The Dutch period, though productive for the Jews, was short-lived. Just over 20 years later, the Portuguese regained control of the colony, causing a mass migration inland – especially to the Sertão, where it was easier to maintain Jewish customs.

There, many were beyond the reach of the Portuguese Inquisition, which periodically made incursions to persecute heretics and take them to Portugal to be tried by the Holy Inquisition.

“Given the large number of Jews living in Pernambuco and the limited physical space of the ships of the time, many were unable to leave the country and decided to remain in the Sertão and other places beyond the borders of Pernambuco”.

The second Jewish migration and the Boa Vista district

At the end of the 19th century and in the first decades of the 20th century, Pernambuco was once again on the Jewish route, this time as a destination for those fleeing persecution in Europe, especially in the east of the continent.

Jáder Tachlitsky himself has stories of this migration in his family. His grandparents came from Ukraine, fleeing persecution by the Russian czars in the region. “Hitler didn’t create the persecution of the Jews, but he took it to a more extreme level, killing millions of people. Before that, Jews were already being persecuted in Europe,” Tachlitsky points out.

These Jews, known as Ashkenazis, arrived in the city with a different status to those who came in the first migration, who consolidated themselves as Recife’s elite. Both the economist’s great-grandfather and grandparents worked in the informal economy of the Pernambuco capital.

“They arrived in a difficult situation. They travelled through the then more isolated neighbourhoods, such as Beberibe and Casa Amarela, and sold goods on credit, in 10 to 15 instalments. That’s how they prospered,” he says.

He says that because of the history of persecution, Jews retained the habit of living close to each other, something that continued in the Boa Vista neighbourhood until the 1970s.

“The neighbourhood was home to the synagogue, the Israelite Club and the Israelite College. There was a habit of having everything close by. Maciel Pinheiro Square, for example, was a meeting place for the Jewish community,” he points out.

On the Holy Recife itinerary, the first synagogue, located on Rua Martins Júnior in the Boa Vista neighbourhood, the Shil Sholem Ocnitzer or Israelite Synagogue of Recife, was inaugurated on July 20, 1926. Today it is no longer used for religious services.

Boa Vista: the centre of Recife

The Boa Vista neighbourhood concentrated Jewish housing until the 1970s. According to Tachlitsky, the Praça Maciel Pinheiro was a kind of meeting place. Near the square is the house of the writer Clarice Lispector, who was Jewish.

As a result, the second community entered Brazil through the less privileged strata of society, as Tânia Kaufman explains. “The first contacts were with people with less purchasing power, through commercial relations. The Jews quickly succeeded and became merchants at fixed points in the Boa Vista neighbourhood,” he says.

They then settled in commercial buildings concentrated in Rua da Imperatriz Tereza Cristina and the surrounding area, a space used for both commercial and residential purposes.

6. Basilica of Our Lady of Penha in Recife PE

On the Sacred Route of Recife, the Church of Our Lady of Penha, located in the heart of Recife’s commercial centre, dates back to the time of the Hereditary Captainships. The Dutch Count Maurício de Nassau, then governor, welcomed the first French Capuchin missionaries to Pernambuco in 1642.

The Capuchins were later given a large tract of land and built a hospice and a church. In 1870 the Capuchins of Veneto (Italy) demolished the old Church of Penha and built the imposing present day Basilica of Penha, completing the work in 1882 under the direction of the skilful Capuchin architect Francesco Maria Di Vicenza.

The friar was inspired by the Venetian basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore, in the neoclassical style. The Basilica of Penha is a landmark in the history of architecture in Pernambuco and an example in Brazil of the beginnings of Neoclassicism in Pernambuco.

In 1964, Dom Hélder Câmara, Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, founded the Parish of Our Lady of Penha and chose the Basilica of Penha as its mother church. Traditionally, the Basilica of Penha receives a large influx of devotees on Fridays, when the blessing of St Felix is administered throughout the day by the Capuchins.

7. Church of Our Lady of Boa Viagem in Recife PE

On the Sacred Route of Recife, the Church of Our Lady of Boa Viagem, located in Boa Viagem Square in Recife, was built on the sand of the beach and its first records date back to the 17th century. Around 1862, the church underwent a major renovation that gave it its present appearance. It underwent internal and external changes, with only the altar in the sacristy remaining.

“With the opening of the tram lines and the Boa Viagem Avenue, the neighbourhood grew and modernised, and the church was one of the few historic buildings in the South Zone that resisted the new construction.

Until the middle of the 17th century, the Church of Our Lady of Boa Viagem was located in the former territory of Barreta, which corresponded to the entire coastal area stretching from the front of Pina to the town of Candeias.

We don’t know of any precise source that guarantees the date of the church’s opening. However, it is known that the church was finished in 1743. Before 1848, the chapel belonged to the parish of Nossa Senhora da Paz, in Afogados, and it was only on 8 September of that year that it was elevated to the status of an independent parish.

The oldest document relating to the church is a deed dated 6 June 1707. In it, Balthazar da Costa Passos and his wife, Ana de Araújo Costa, donated to Father Leandro Camelo a place where there was an “oratory or crib of Jesus and Mary”, together with the land nearby, which was a piece of land in Barreta, with a front of one hundred metres and a back of one league, from the beach to the River Jordão.”

Also by will, these donors, who were very religious, added to the chapel’s patrimony another property, next door, “with 500 hectares of land, with about thirty coconut trees, where there is a mud house for sale, where Manuel Setúbal used to live”.

Another piece of information from historical documents stresses that Father Leandro Camelo, then known as a “man of great virtues”, used everything he had to have an image of the Good Journey made as a tribute to Mary Most Holy, He placed it in a magnificent church he built two leagues from Recife, on the shores of the sea, “placing his hopes in this Lady, whose care is always to lead us to the desired port of salvation”.

According to scholars, the Church of Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagem, although modest, was one of the temples with the highest patrimonial income in Recife during the colonial period. It owned five large estates, four small ones and twenty one-storey houses in the city, as well as a small coconut grove on the beach, donated by Father Luís Marques Teixeira with the sole obligation of taking from his income “the amount necessary to keep the lamp in the sanctuary of the church lit day and night”.

The major renovation of the Chapel of Our Lady of the Good Voyage began in 1862. The old building was replaced by a new one with a more solemn structure. Before that, there was a small church with simple lines and a porch in front, more like one of those modest temples in the countryside.

During the renovation, the monks preserved some altars, including the one in the sacristy of the Church of Our Lady of the Good Voyage. Dating from 1745, this altar was carved by the master João Pereira and gilded by the artist Francisco Teixeira Ribeiro in 1772.

It was undoubtedly the Capelinha de Boa Viagem that gave its name to this beautiful beach. It’s worth noting that the administrators included the donors of the land themselves: Balthazar Passos‘s brother, Antônio da Costa Passos, and his wife, Catarina de Araújo Sampaio; and the priests Luiz Marques Teixeira and Inácio Ribeiro Noia.

At the beginning of the 20th century, access to Boa Viagem was still quite difficult. In 1908, for example, there were only about 60 houses of regular construction and a chapel. The town was only alive from September to March, when the seaside resort was popular.

At a distance of 11 km from the centre of Recife, Boa Viagem only gained momentum after the Avenida Beira-Mar was built. This made it possible for people to take the electric tram to the beach. Before that there was only a donkey-drawn tram, which opened in 1899.

As well as working on the church, the administrators tried, for more than three hundred years, to participate as much as possible in the preaching of the Gospel and the celebration of the liturgy, and to create an aura of attraction for the people who passed through or lived there: boat people, fishermen, travellers, and others.

Above all, they were warned that there were serious problems of the soul and that vigilance was essential.

On 8 September 1948, by decree of Archbishop Miguel de Lima Valverde, the Parish of Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagem was created, raising its church to the rank of a parish church. Its first parish priest was Monsignor Romeu Vasconcelos de Sá Barreto, who stayed here from January 1st 1949 until August 6th 1967, when he died.

Guide to Recife, Pernambuco and the Northeast

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