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Sacred Recife is a religious tourist route where tourists get to know the churches and basilicas as well as the architecture, history, culture and religion.
The city of Recife has a heritage of sacred art like few cities in Brazil.
History, culture and religion have always gone hand in hand in the construction of Recife.
And to learn more about this rich universe, the City Hall of Recife created the Sacred Recife project.
Since November 2014, Recife Sagrado has been offering guided tours of important temples in the city.
The visitor gets to know a little about the history of that construction, its particularities architectural and what it represents 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, Basilica of Nossa Senhora do Carmo, Santa Tereza D’Ávila da Ordem Terceira do Carmo, Nossa Senhora de Boa Viagem Church, Basilica of Nossa Senhora da Penha and the Kahal-Zur Israel Synagogue. All in the city centre and Recife Antigo.
Video “Sacred Recife Route”
Roteiro Recife Sagrado
Main Churches in the Sacred Recife Route
- Golden Chapel or Capela Dourada
- Church of Our Lady of the Rosary of Black Men or Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Homens Pretos
- Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel or Basílica de Nossa Senhora do Carmo in Recife, PE
- Church of St Teresa D’Ávila of the Third Order of Carmel or Igreja de Santa Teresa D’Ávila
- Sinagoga Kahal Zur Israel in Recife PE
- Basilica Nossa Senhora da Penha in Recife PE
- Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagem Church in Recife, PE
1. Golden Chapel or Capela Dourada
The Golden Chapel or Chapel of the Third Order of St Francis of Recife is part of the Sacred Recife, also called the Novices’ Chapel, belonging to the Venerable Third Order of St Francis of Recife, and had its foundation stone laid on 13 May 1696 by Captain General Caetano de Melo Castro.
The master mason (Portuguese), Captain Antonio Fernandes de Matos, was in charge of its construction, and such was the fervour with which the work was carried out that, with only the jewels (given as alms) of the Board of Directors and also alms from the third brothers, it was possible to open it to the public on 15 September 1697, having spent on its construction, until that date, the amount of 1,365$010 (One Thousand Three Hundred and Sixty-Five Counts and Ten Réis).
“On 15 September 1697, sixteen months after it was begun, it was opened with all solemnity by the Visiting Commissioner Father Jerome of the Resurrection, who then celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at the high altar.”
It was completely finished. Until 1724, work continued uninterruptedly on the church.
And so, little by little, each year new works were completed, and only after 1724 can we consider all the work on the church to have been completed.
It is carved in wood (cedar), in Baroque style, covered in plaster and gold foil.
The Golden Chapel of the Venerable Third Order of St Francis of Recife, monumental for its gold, in a statement of the Baroque, was born out of that agitated artistic end of the 17th century of Louis XV in France and King John V in Portugal, precisely with the financial heyday of Pernambuco: plantation owners, wealthy noblemen, rich men, very wealthy brotherhoods, those were the days of turned furniture, worked jacaranda trees, burinated and gilded cedars. The Baroque is seen there in the stunning decoration of the previous one.
The high altar and the chapels and side altars are monuments in carved woodwork. Everything was opulence, everything was grandeur. The Golden Chapel reflects this lavish atmosphere.
Paintings of the Golden Chapel
The paintings of the Golden Chapel of the Third Order of St Francis in Recife are of incredible richness, undoubtedly one of the last and most vibrant expressions of religious art in Pernambuco.
The canvases, their very rich panels, struggling against the surprise of the years and the neglect of men, through centuries, still attest, in the present day, to the glorious revelation of artists of the past. Unfortunately we do not know the names of the authors of these works.
Panels of the Golden Chapel
The missionary friars travelled the roads of Europe and other continents. One day, five friars passed through Coimbra on their way to Morocco in Africa, where they were going to bring the Gospel to the Muslims.
When they arrived in Morocco, they preached to the pagans, but were imprisoned by the King and condemned to death by beheading. This happened on 16 January 1220.
The remains of the martyrs were transported to Europe and, on their passage through Coimbra, were placed in the Church of the Monastery of Santa Cruz. (Extracted from the book “Francisco showed the way”, pg. 38 by Friar Hugo Baggio, OFM).
These two altarpieces were executed between 1707 and 1710. The gilding of the panels was completed between 1699 and 1700 and between 1715 and 1717.
Tiles of the Golden Chapel
The tile panels that decorate the Golden Chapel, all of them more or less like the tiles found in many Franciscan churches in Brazil, were bought in 1704.
They are simple figures with profane motifs.
Golden Chapel Carvings
Carvings live on in our churches, the art and civilisation of past generations.
This is a difficult study, as we know few technicians in this speciality, although we see, with each passing day, a multitude of connoisseurs and experts….
Great Arch Grid
Between the Golden Chapel and the Church of the Convent of Santo Antônio do Recife, we come across a huge iron railing.
It was not always like this, the primitive railing was all worked, made in 1968 by the Franciscan brother Luiz Machado.
Images in the Golden Chapel
All the existing images in the Golden Chapel came from Portugal, except for Our Lady, Patroness of the Novices, which in 1866 to 1867 was carved in wood (cedar) by the master saint maker from Pernambuco, Manuel da Silva Amorim, the same who made in 1846 the image of Senhor Bom Jesus dos Passos, which goes out in procession every year in the Lenten season.
The images of St Cosmas and St Damian came from Lisbon, Portugal, in 1742.
The Golden Chapel, which has been listed since 30 November 1937 by the National Historical and Geographical Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN), is now considered a National Monument.
For many years now, weddings and other liturgical ceremonies are no longer celebrated in this chapel, and it is now considered a museum.
Tourists from various countries and all Brazilian states visit the Golden Chapel daily, as well as students from various colleges and universities attend classes taught by professors, such as Architecture and Baroque Art. The average annual visitation is twenty thousand people.
2. Church of Our Lady of the Rosary of Black Men or Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Homens Pretos
In the Sacred Recife itinerary, the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary of Black Men in Recife, located on Larga do Rosário Street, in the Santo Antônio neighbourhood, was built in 1630 by the Brotherhood of the Rosary of Black Men, an association formed by black slaves.
It should be noted that the Africans who were transported as slaves to Brazil belonged to different tribes (or nations), such as those of Angola, Benguela, Cambinda, Mozambique, Congo, Cassanges, among others.
And each of them had their own languages (or dialects), customs (council of elders, festivals), and specific sacred and religious rituals (rites of Xangô, feasts of the dead and feasts of the magi).
In the Congo, in particular, black people had certain privileges, being able to elect a king (in their native language, their Muchino riá Congo), and to reign over the people of the other nations of Africa, whether they were Creole or African, free or slave.
In this sense, the first commitment of the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Rosary of Black Men, authorising the crowning of a king of the Congo at its festivities, is recorded on 8 May 1711.
In order to survive the pain of slavery and exile (both from their homeland and from family and friends), slaves tried to unite in their new habitat, harmonising their ancestral rites as best they could.
In this way, religious associations were an important link through which black people 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 Rosary of Black Men were therefore made up of dances and drumming that were not part of the Catholic liturgy. Thus, the rituals performed by these brothers were even banned by the Inquisition.
The quilombos in particular, both Palmares and the others between Cabo de Santo Agostinho and the São Francisco River, were expressions of the associative spirit of Africans. And this associative tendency, arising from the quilombos (which were located in rural areas), also extended to urban areas.
The Brotherhood retained 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 Our Lady of the Rosary of Black Men, with all the pomp of their patron saint.
Also recorded in the Brotherhood’s books up to 1888 are all the coronations of the kings and queens of Angola, Congo and Cambinda. It was through these coronations that the maracatu, one of the most beautiful and expressive manifestations of Northeastern folklore, originated.
The Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Rosary of the Black Men, in colonial Brazil, despite the miserable condition of its members, spared no effort to build temples as rich as those erected by the nobility, either by providing free labour or by purchasing materials.
In this regard, there are the deeds drawn up by the various treasurers over the centuries. Sometimes the brothers paid their debts by making sweets.
One of the records, for example, states the following as payment: “to the players of the dances seven patacas and viola strings 640 and two pairs of shoes to the dancers, with an alms paid to the chaplain”.
In 1739, the façade of the church was in ruins. The Brotherhood then decided to build a new frontispiece.
Famous carvers such as Manuel Pais de Lima (who was in charge of the frontispiece) and Manuel Alvarez worked on the Church of the Black Men, as well as a number of carpenters and joiners who worked hard for a long time to restore the building.
The temple began to be rebuilt in 1750 and in 1777 the work was completed. Inspired by Franciscan convents, the church became an icon of Baroque art. In terms of style, therefore, the building is typical of those existing in the second half of the 18th century.
The building has a colonial style, but a number of its altars retain the rococo style.
The same can be said of its façade: simple and authentically 18th-century, it has a single tower, a high frontispiece with volutes and a rosary that takes the place of the traditional coats of arms of Pernambuco churches.
The church has five large doors on its façade. In the niche of one of them is a secular image of Our Lady of the Rosary from the time the church was founded, as well as an old image of Saint Benedict in the consistory dating from 1753.
The carvings on the high altar, the panel painted on its original lining (the image of the Virgin Mary, flanked by mulatto cherubs, handing the rosary to Saint Dominic, the inspiration for the Order) and the furniture in the sacristy are very well preserved. There is an art gallery in the side corridor.
The image of the patron saint, one of the most beautiful examples of Luso-Brazilian art, is noteworthy: it is life-size, made of polychrome wood, and features glass eyes and silver implements. Inside, the pilasters, architraves and arches are jaspered.
With the exception of Our Lady of the Rosary, Our Lady of Good Time and Saint Dominic, all the other images on the altars represent black saints. They are: St Benedict, St Balthazar, St Iphigenia and St Moses, St Anthony of Catalagirona and St Elesban.
The religious system of the Brotherhood changed after the advent of the Republic, and it began to receive people of any colour, with the right to vote and to be judged, as well as the right to modify religious festivals and the administrative system.
Thus, the Brotherhood of Black Men began 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 settled in 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, rich 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 leave in procession, carrying the platform with the image of their patron saint – the venerated black saint – abandoned 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 or Basílica de Nossa Senhora do Carmo in Recife, PE
After the expulsion of the Dutch from Pernambuco, there was reluctance on the part of the authorities to build a Carmelite convent in Recife – they preferred to concentrate their efforts on remodelling the convent in Olinda, which had been ruined by the Dutch invasion.
But after some time there was a consensus, and the land where there were the ruins of an old palace of Maurício de Nassau was donated to the Carmel, which built on the site a church dedicated to Our Lady of Desterro.
At the same time, there was an institutional reform in the Carmelite order – known as the Touraine reform, or Turonica (from Tours, France).
The Carmelites of Recife accepted the renewal, while those of Olinda refused the reform.
Thus, after some time, the Carmel of Recife flourished, and the convent of Olinda stagnated, even going through some 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 undertook the construction of 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 more than a hundred years, beginning around 1680 and lasting until the end of the 18th century, when the tower and façade were completed.
The church has nine altars: the main 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 church’s frontispiece is one of the most imposing in Pernambuco, with many volutes carved in stone, and the 50-metre-high tower is topped by one of the most elaborate bulbs of the Brazilian Baroque.
In 1917, Pope Benedict XV elevated the church to the dignity of ‘Patriarchal Vatican Basilica’, conferring upon it various indulgences and specific jurisdictional features. And in 1919, Our Lady of Mount Carmel was proclaimed patron saint of Recife.
Throughout the 20th century, under the pretext of promoting progress, local politicians undertook disastrous modifications in the old centre of Recife, which contributed to degrading the region and de-characterising this important stronghold of Brazilian history.
But the Basilica of Carmo, as well as other churches in the area, still retain their original beauty, recalling a time when Pernambuco was one of the most prosperous regions in Brazil.
According to the historian Flávio Guerra, this image of Mary is the same one that was brought from Portugal to Olinda, and which was saved from destruction by the Dutch (Calvinists) when they invaded the city.
4. Church of St Teresa D’Ávila of the Third Order of Carmel or Igreja de Santa Teresa D’Ávila
In the Sacred Reef itinerary, the Church of St Teresa D’Ávila is located in the Pátio do Carmo is part of the Sacred Reef, right next to the homonymous Basilica.
Overshadowed by its famous neighbour and hidden at the end of a corridor of beautiful palm trees, it unfortunately goes unnoticed by most passers-by who rush through the centre of Recife. We bring all the details to you, our reader!
The construction work of the church was completed in 1710 (consecrated only in 1835) after ten years of initiation.
If we compare it with the eighty years of the Carmel Basilica, we can say that it took very little time to be ready. This was only thanks to the willingness of the members of the Third Order of Carmel to spend all the necessary resources to build it in the shortest possible time and with maximum luxury.
It is worth mentioning that they were merchants, mill owners, etc. The Third Order of Carmel is composed to this day by lay people, that is, people who are not part of the priesthood (there are no nuns or friars).
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 the years 1515 and 1582.
She lived a life of exemplary dedication to prayer, played a key role in the reform of the Order of Carmel and was one of the most outstanding writers on church-related topics.
A gifted writer, she described her own personal experiences to explain the four steps of prayer: recollection, stillness, union and rapture.
Despite such dedication, St Teresa of Avila was persecuted by the Inquisition of the Catholic Church for the way she expressed her ideas and for talking about “spiritual orgasm” in her writings. There are indications that she was not killed due to her father’s strong influence with the king.
Visiting the Church of Santa Tereza D’Ávila of the Third Order of Carmo (and what a long name!) gives us the opportunity to see the largest collection of paintings in honour of the saint in the world. Like the other churches of this period, its architectural style is Baroque in its final phase (full of the characteristic rococo flourishes).
The paintings in the nave of the church are by João de Deus Sepúlveda (18th century), while those in the entrance are by the freed slave from Pernambuco, Manoel de Jesus Pinto. Black people were not allowed to attend the church.
The nave of the church is also home to a rare crystal chandelier, but its main highlight are the paintings on the church’s ceiling. There are some rarities, such as a painting of the Saint in intimate attire (for the time, of course) and two others of the “bad thing”. Care to look?
The side altars represent six steps of the Passion of Christ. There is an important detail in the gilding technique. Unlike the Golden Chapel, where gold leaf was used, here they “blew” gold dust over the fresh paint.
The main altar displays the images of Jesus Christ and Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the centre, St Joseph “in boots” (a rarity) on the right and the patron saint St Teresa on the left.
Did you notice anything different about the image of Jesus? He has his head turned to the right and his features are very pained in his last moment of life. There are only two images depicted in this way in the world (the other is in Ouro Preto).
The side niches present the images of St Elias, spiritual father of all Carmelites, and his follower St Elisha. It is difficult to distinguish the two images because of their similarity (St Elias is the one on the left right next to Jesus). The smaller images in the lower part are of John Paul II and St Therese.
The left side of the altar features a painting of one of the most important passages of her life: the transverberation of St Teresa’s heart.
The sacristy is closed to visitors, but it is worth insisting on visiting. In addition to the 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 a reproduction of the most important passages from the life of St Teresa of Avila.
Finally, the area next to the church is occupied by tombs of important members of the Third Order of Carmel, such as that of the Baron of Casa Forte and others.
5. Sinagoga Kahal Zur Israel in Recife PE
Israeli community has participated in Pernambuco life since the time of the Colony, with preserved cultural and religious tradition.
More than just a religion, Judaism is linked to the history of a people that became a nation three thousand years ago. Currently, the Israeli Federation of Pernambuco (FIPE) estimates that there are about 1,500 Jews living in the state – the vast majority of them live in the capital, having little impact on the city’s daily life.
This is a very different scenario to that found in the 17th century, when the Jewish population in Recife was similar to that of today, but in a province with just over 10,000 inhabitants.
There are currently about 1500 Jews in Pernambuco. To be Jewish, you must be the son of a Jewish mother or have converted to Judaism.
The first migratory flow of Jews to Recife occurred in the 17th century and brought people from the Iberian Peninsula. “They were fleeing the religious inquisition.
In Portugal, there was mass conversion of Jews to Christianity for this reason. They were called new Christians,” he explains.
Christian converts and those fleeing conversion arrived in Recife and practised Jewish rites and customs at home to avoid the accusation of heresy.
Conversion and hidden practices were not a choice; the crypto-Jews – as those who practised their beliefs in a veiled manner became known – were certain to die at the stake in a public square if they ran afoul of the Inquisition.
Conversion: the conversion process can take up to two years of studying Jewish history and culture and some Hebrew language. At the end of this period, the person participates in a Beit Din (a kind of rabbinical court), composed of three members who will assess whether the individual 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, “new Hispano-Portuguese Christians” were already arriving 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, however, the Dutch invasions changed this scenario, albeit momentarily. “The Netherlands was a Calvinist country, defending different religious shades. This allowed Judaism to be practised freely in Recife between 1630 and 1654. The inquisitor Portuguese left the scene and the tolerant Dutch entered,” Tachlitsky says.
Traditions: at 8 days of life, Jewish boys undergo circumcision, which consists of removing the foreskin from the penis. At 13, these boys participate in the Bar Mitzvah, which marks the “religious majority”. The girls’ comes at the age of 12, at the Bat Mitzvah.
After the arrival of the Dutch, and the consequent 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,” he says.
Researcher and founder of the Jewish Historical Archive of Pernambuco, Tânia Kaufman, says that with the domination of the Netherlands, this Jewish contingent of Iberian origin, called Sepharadites, unlike the new Christians who arrived in the city at the beginning of colonisation, did not need to hide their beliefs.
They already found a Jewish atmosphere in Recife. “They began to enjoy the protection of the government of João Maurício de Nassau and the privileges of the social and economic elite existing at the time,” he says.
Given the favourable scenario, Jewish immigration reached its peak. Odmar Braga reports as the peak 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.
Tânia Kaufman points to this event as a sign that Jews had begun to put down roots in the city, to the point where 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, occupying one of the mansions on Rua do Bom Jesus, then called Rua dos Judeus”, Kaufman points out. Construction of the synagogue began in 1638 and was completed in 1641.
The Dutch period, although productive for the Jews, was short. Just over 20 years later, the Portuguese regained control of the colony, generating a mass migration to the interior of the state – especially the Sertão, where it was easier to maintain Jewish habits.
There, they would be out of reach of the Portuguese Inquisition, which occasionally made incursions to pursue heretics and then take them to Portugal to be judged by the Holy Inquisition.
“In view of the large number of Jews living in Pernambuco and the small physical space of the ships of that time, many were unable to leave the country and decided to remain in the Sertão and other locations beyond the border of Pernambuco”.
The second Jewish migration and the Boa Vista neighbourhood
Pernambuco once again entered the Jewish route at the end of the 19th century and in the first decades of the 20th century. 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 the persecution promoted by the Russian tsars in the region. “Hitler did not create the persecution of Jews, but he took it to a more extreme level, killing millions of people. Before that, Jews were already persecuted across Europe,” Tachlitsky points out.
These Jews, who were called Ashkenazis, arrived in the city with a different status from those who came during the first migration, who consolidated themselves as the elite of Recife. Both the economist’s great-grandfather and grandparents worked in informal commerce in the Pernambuco capital.
“They arrived in a difficult situation. They travelled through more isolated neighbourhoods at the time, such as Beberibe and Casa Amarela, and sold goods on credit, in 10 to 15 instalments. So they prospered,” he says.
He says that, because of the history of persecution, Jews maintained the habit of living close to each other, something that remained in the Boa Vista neighbourhood until the 1970s. “The neighbourhood was home to the synagogue, the Israeli Club and the Israeli College. There was this custom of always having everything close by. The Maciel Pinheiro Square, for example, was a meeting point for the Jewish community,” he emphasises.
In the Sacred Recife itinerary, the 1st Synagogue located at Rua Martins Júnior, in the Boa Vista neighbourhood, the Shil Sholem Ocnitzer or Israeli Synagogue of Recife was inaugurated on 20 July 1926. Currently, the place no longer hosts religious meetings.
Boa Vista: the neighbourhood of Recife Centre concentrated the housing of Jews in Recife until the 70s. According to Tachlitsky, Praça Maciel Pinheiro was a kind of meeting point. The house of writer Clarice Lispector, who was Jewish, is located in the vicinity of the square.
The result is that the second community entered Brazil through the less privileged layers of society, as Tânia Kaufman explains. “The first contacts were with people with lower purchasing power through commercial relations. The Jews quickly succeeded and became traders in fixed points in the Boa Vista neighbourhood,” she says.
They then established themselves in commercial houses concentrated on Rua da Imperatriz Tereza Cristina and its surroundings. Space that was occupied for both commerce and residential use.
6. Basilica Nossa Senhora da Penha in Recife PE
On the Recife Sacred route, the Church of Our Lady of Penha is located in the heart of Recife’s commercial centre. The history of the emergence of the Basilica of Penha dates back to the times of the Hereditary Captaincies, when the Dutch Count Maurício de Nassau, then governor, welcomed the first French Capuchin missionaries in Pernambuco in 1642.
Later, the Capuchins received a donation of a vast site and built a hospice and a church. In 1870, Capuchins from Veneto (Italy) demolished the old Church of Penha and erected the imposing current Basilica of Penha, completing the work in 1882, led by the skilful Capuchin architect Friar Francesco Maria Di Vicenza.
The friar architect was inspired by the Venetian basilica of San Giorggio Maggiore, in Neoclassical style. The Basilica of Penha is a landmark in the history of architecture in Pernambuco and an example of the beginnings of neoclassicism in Brazil.
In 1964, Dom Hélder Câmara, Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, created the Parish of Nossa Senhorainterior-basilica-penha-medium da Penha and chose the Basilica of Penha as its Mother Church.
Traditionally on Fridays, the Basilica of Penha gathers a large flow of devotees, when the blessing of St Felix is given throughout the day by the Capuchins.
7. Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagem Church in Recife, PE
In the Sacred Recife itinerary, the Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagem Church in Pracinha de Boa Viagem in Recife, which was built on the sand of the beach, has its first records dating from the 17th century. Around 1862, the church underwent a major renovation that gave it its current appearance. It underwent internal and external changes, with only the altar in the sacristy remaining.
“With the opening of the tram lines and Boa Viagem Avenue, the neighbourhood grew and modernised and the church was one of the only historic buildings in the South Zone that resisted modern constructions.”
Until the mid-17th century, the Church of Our Lady of Good Voyage was located in the former territory of Barreta, corresponding to the entire coastal area, which extended from the front of Pina to the village of Candeias.
No precise source is known that can guarantee the date of the church’s opening. It is known, however, that the church was ready in 1743.
Before 1848, the chapel belonged to the parish of Our Lady of Peace in Afogados and was only elevated to the status of an independent parish on 8 September of that year.
The oldest document about 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 presepe to Jesus and Mary, together with the land that was nearby, which was a site of land in Barreta with a hundred armes in front and a league in back, from the beach to the River Jordan”.
Also in their wills, the donors, being very religious, added to the chapel’s assets another site next door, ‘with 500 hectares of land, with thirty-odd coconut trees, where there is a mud house for sale in which Manuel Setúbal used to live’.
Another piece of information from historical documents emphasises that Father Leandro Camelo, known at the time as a ‘man of great virtues’, used everything he had to make a living. using everything he had, had an image made of the Good Journey, in honour of Mary Most Holy, and placed it in a magnificent church he erected two leagues from Recife, on the shores of the sea, “placing his hopes in this Lady, whose care is to lead us always to the desired port of salvation”.
According to scholars on the subject, the Church of Our Lady of Good Voyage, although modest in the period of colonial Brazil, was one of the temples with the highest patrimonial income in Recife.
It was owned by five large estates, four small estates and 20 single-storey houses in the town, as well as a small coconut grove on the beach donated by Father Luís Marques Teixeira with the sole commitment that “the amount necessary to keep the lamp in the chancel of the church lit day and night” would be taken from his income.
Major renovations to the Chapel of Our Lady of Good Voyage began in 1862.
In place of the previous building, a new one was erected with a more solemn structure. Before that, there was a small church with simple lines and a porch in front, which looked more like one of those modest temples in rural areas.
During the renovation, the churchmen preserved some altars, including the one in the sacristy of the Church of Our Lady of Good Voyage. Dating from 1745, this altar was carved by the master João Pereira and gilded by the artist Francisco Teixeira Ribeiro in 1772.
Undeniably, it was the Chapel of Boa Viagem that gave its name to its beautiful beach. It is worth mentioning among the administrators the donors of the land themselves; the brother of Bhaltazar Passos, Antônio da Costa Passos, and wife Catarina de Araujo Sampaio; 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, according to scholars on the subject, there were only about 60 houses of regular construction and a chapel.
The village 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 enables the population to use the electric tram to go to the beach.
Before that, however, there was only one donkey-drawn tramway, inaugurated in 1899.
In parallel with the work on the church over the last three hundred years, the administrators have tried to collaborate as much as possible in the preaching of the Gospel and in the liturgical celebrations, creating an aura of attraction for the people who passed through or lived there: boat people, fishermen, travellers, among others.
Above all, they were warned that there were serious problems of the soul, whose vigil could not be abandoned.
On 8 September 1948, by decree of Archbishop Miguel de Lima Valverde, the church was founded. Miguel de Lima Valverde, the Parish of Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagem was created, with the elevation of its church to the category of matrix, being its first parish priest Monsignor Romeu Vasconcelos de Sá Barreto, who remained here from 1 January 1949 to 06 August 1967, when he died.
Tourism and Travel Guide of Recife, Pernambuco and Northeast Brazil
Sacred Recife Route and Religious Tourism in Recife PE – Bahia Tourism Guide
