Versão portuguesa aqui.

GPS 38.71385370603375, -9.143466212695406

The Church of São Roque is a Catholic church in Lisbon, dedicated to São Roque and built at the end of the 16th century, with the collaboration of Afonso Álvares and Bartolomeu Álvares. It belonged to the Society of Jesus, being its first church in Portugal, and one of the first Jesuit churches in the world. It was the Company's main church in Portugal for over 200 years, before the Jesuits were expelled from the country in the 18th century. The church of São Roque was one of the few buildings in Lisbon to survive the 1755 earthquake relatively unscathed. Both the church and the auxiliary residence were transferred to Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, to replace its buildings and church destroyed in the earthquake. It remains part of the Santa Casa today.

At the time of its construction in the 16th century, it was the first Jesuit church to be designed in the "church-auditorium" style, specifically for preaching. It has several chapels, mainly in the baroque style of the early 17th century, the most notable being that of São João Baptista, from the 18th century, an initial project by Nicola Salvi and Luigi Vanvitelli, later altered with the intervention of the chief architect João Frederico Ludovice, as this can be verified by the correspondence between Ludovice and Vanvitelli, published by Sousa Viterbo and R. Vicente de Almeida in 1900. Ludovice sent a series of drawings to Italy with the imposed changes, since Vanvitelli had refused to change the initial project. It was commissioned in Italy by D. João V in 1742. It arrived in Lisbon in 1747 and was only settled in 1749. It is a masterpiece of Italian art, unique in the world, consisting of mosaic paintings executed by Mattia Moretti, on cardboard. Masucci, representing the Baptism of Christ, Pentecost and the Annunciation. Suspended from the vault, made of jasper coffers framed in bronze, is to be admired a chandelier of excellent execution by Italian jewellery, framed by an admirable set of marble statues. It is supposed to have been the most expensive chapel in Europe at the time.

The facade, simple and austere, follows the canons imposed at the time by the reformed church. In contrast, the interior is enriched by gilded carvings, paintings and tiles and constituted an important museum of mannerist and baroque decorative arts. It has tiles from the 16th and 17th centuries, signed by Francisco de Matos.

The ceiling, with painting of interesting symbology presents coffers. Carving, Mannerist and Baroque, is rich and varied, with altarpieces and frames for paintings. There are colored marbles inlaid with Italian style and a good collection of liturgical implements.

Next to the building, in Largo Trindade Coelho, is the Museum of Sacred Art of São Roque, which has compartments connected with the church.

History

In the current Largo da Misericórdia there would be a cemetery for the dead of the plague. The place was outside the walls and was sparsely populated. It was the people who built the chapel in 1506, and it quickly became a place of pilgrimage and worship. The saint began to have great acceptance and the Brotherhood of São Roque was even created.

Chapels

Inside the church, we can observe nine chapels, inserted in the side arches, each with its history and decoration representing its times.

Chapel of Our Lady of Doctrine The Chapel of Our Lady of Doctrine was built in 1612 by the "Congregation of Mechanical Officers or Our Lady of Doctrine", and started on March 1, 1634. Its decoration is in carvings. gilded, representative of the Baroque "National style", dating from the last half of the 17th century and beginning of the 20th century. XVIII. It combines elements imported from the Italian Baroque, namely the Solomonic, spiral columns, ornamented with elements of national creation, such as bunches of grapes, vines and phoenix birds, as well as the altarpiece in the form of a Romanesque portal. Completing the gilded carving, the lower walls feature inlaid marble coverings, a decorative technique of Italian influence. It is an artistic manifestation, which reached a decorative exuberance in Portugal in the first half of the 18th century. At the center of the altarpiece is an image of Saint Anne and the Virgin, in upholstered and polychrome wood, from the late 17th century. On each side, images of São Joaquim and Santa Ana, from the same period. On the side walls, there are niches protecting sets of reliquaries in the form of busts.

Chapel of San Francisco Xavier

As stated on a marble tombstone, this chapel was founded in 1634 by António Gomes de Elvas, a nobleman from an Alentejo family, to whom King Filipe I of Portugal granted a coat of arms. Luiz Roiz de Elvas, brother of the founder, was responsible for completing the chapel. Its decoration dates from the first half of the 17th century. In the center of the altar stands out the 17th century sculpture of the great Jesuit missionary São Francisco Xavier. The side paintings, attributed to the Portuguese painter José de Avelar Rebelo, represent, on the left side, "D. João III in audience with São Francisco Xavier", on his departure for India" and, on the right side, "Pope Paulo III in the act of sending the first Fathers of the Society of Jesus to Portugal".

Chapel of Sao Roque

This chapel is located in the place where the head of the original Ermida de São Roque would have been located, prior to the construction of the current church. After its founding, it began to be managed by the Brotherhood or Confraternity of São Roque. The central image of the altarpiece is of the head of the church, in upholstered and polychrome wood, from the 17th century. On each side, two sculptures from the same period, respectively São Tiago and São Sebastião. On the altar and interspersed with the candlesticks on the stool, six sculptures in silvered wood represent the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and the four Saints Evangelists. The side painting, located on the left side, represents the "Apparition of the angel to São Roque", executed in the second half of the 16th century, by Gaspar Dias. It constitutes one of the best works of this renowned painter of Portuguese mannerism. The tile panels on the side walls are representative of the mannerist tiles of the late 16th century; its decoration includes scenes relating to the life of São Roque, with the signature of the author, Francisco de Matos, dated 1584, on the lower left side. representing the coat of arms of the Brotherhood of São Roque.

Chapel of the Blessed

The Capela do Santíssimo was founded in 1636 by Luiza Frois, a benefactor of the Jesuit College of Santo Antão and the Professed House of São Roque. It was originally dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption. Its decoration dates from the second half of the 19th century. XVII, beginning of the century. XVIII. In the center of the altarpiece, there is an image representing Our Lady of the Assumption, of great baroque expression. The gilded carving is from the period that precedes the "National Baroque", called "Proto-Baroque", characterized by a notorious ornamental restraint. Part of the side walls are covered with inlaid marble, of Italian influence, a work of stonework that was completed in 1719. On the side walls, there are two paintings by Bento Coelho da Silveira, from the mid-17th century, related to the Marian theme. of the chapel, respectively: "The death of the Virgin (on the right) and the "Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin" (on the left). in silver, at the entrance of the chapel, is a piece of Porto jewellery, commissioned by the Misericórdia de Lisboa, in 1877.

Chancel

The chancel altarpiece was built between 1625 and 1628. With Mannerist characteristics, it is made up of pairs of Corinthian columns, decorated on the capitals and on the last third of the shaft, stylistically resembling that of the chapels of São Francisco Xavier and the Sagrada Familia . In the four front niches, there are Mannerist images of the main saints of the Society of Jesus: Santo Ignacio de Loyola, São Francisco Xavier, São Luís de Gonzaga and São Francisco de Borja. The central niche is occupied by a sculpture of Our Lady with the Child, from the end of the 17th century. XVII. The central painting belongs to a series of seven 17th-century canvases, commissioned by the Society of Jesus, which are placed cyclically on the main altar, according to the liturgical calendar. On the intrados of the arch, in side niches, we see the sculptures of Senhor da Cana Verde, Brígida, São Gregório Taumaturgo and the Immaculate Conception. At the same time, four side paintings can be seen, in oil on wood, representing St. Stanislaus Kostka and the three martyrs of Japan: St. Diogo, St. John Martyr and St. Paul Miki. Under the floor of the chapel are the tombs of D. Fernando Martins de Mascarenhas, Bishop of the Algarve from 1596 to 1616, as well as that of the first Patriarch of Lisbon, D. Tomás de Almeida, who died in 1754.

Chapel of Saint John the Baptist

This chapel was commissioned by King João V to the Roman architects Luigi Vanvitelli and Nicola Salvi, in 1740, and built between 1742 and 1747. On December 15, 1744, it was consecrated by Pope Benedict XIV, in Rome, and was subsequently , set up for the Supreme Pontiff to celebrate mass in it on May 6, 1747. In September of that same year, it was dismantled and transported to Lisbon, in three ships, and later settled in the Church of São Roque, in the space of the former Capela do Espírito Santo . The Chapel of São João Baptista is a unique work of art in its style, unparalleled even in Italy itself, as it includes a set of cult pieces of exceptional artistic quality, namely the jewelery and vestments collections, which are partially on display at the Museum of San Roque. In its coating, we find different types of marble: lapis lazuli, agate, ancient green, alabaster, Carrara marble, amethyst, purple porphyry, white-black France, ancient breccia, diaspore, jalde and others. In addition to marble, mosaic and gilded bronze were used. The central frame and the two sides, as well as the floor, are in mosaic, an artistic work of great perfection. The central painting represents the "Baptism of Christ", and the lateral ones, the "Pentecost" (on the left side) and the "Annunciation" (on the right side). The model paintings of the three paintings are by Agostino Massucci, and their execution, in mosaic, was the work of Mattia Moretti. Enrico Enuo was the author of the pavement mosaic. The outer arch of the chapel is surmounted by the Portuguese Royal Arms. The gates and side doors, in gilded bronze, bear the monogram of D. João V in the center. Francesco Feliziani and Paolo Riccoli were responsible for laying the chapel, with the final assembly of the "Baptism of Christ" and "Pentecost", in August 1752, after the death of King João V, which occurred on 31 July 1750.

Chapel of Our Lady of Piety

This Chapel was founded in 1613 by Martim Gonçalves da Câmara, who was buried there. The decoration of the altarpiece took place between 1707 and 1716, on the initiative of the Congregation of Nossa Senhora da Piedade. The central theme is "Calvary", surrounded by a crown of angels on a painted stucco background, representing the walls of Jerusalem. In the centre, the tabernacle stands out, with a painting representing "Nossa Senhora da Soledade"; on top of it sits a beautiful "Pietá", in upholstered and polychrome wood, from the 17th century. Inside the showcase-altar is an image of "Our Lady of Good Death". On the soffit of the chapel's arch there are two sculptures, representing São Longinho and Santa Verónica, from the beginning of the 18th century. This type of composition initiates a certain theatrical taste in Portugal, in the decorative field of churches, marking the transition from "National Baroque" to a style based on the concept of "stage-audience", originating in the Baroque style of Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

Chapel of Saint Anthony

It was instituted by Pedro Machado de Brito, who left a bequest to the Society of Jesus, with instructions for his descendants to be buried here, with the Confraria da Misericórdia de Lisboa as its executor. Misericórdia agreed with the religious of the Company of Jesus that the chapel be dedicated to Saint Anthony and that the work be ordered carried out by the priests of the Company, in line with the design of the other chapels. Having been partially destroyed by the 1755 earthquake, it was later redecorated with late Baroque elements. The ceiling features neoclassical frescoes from the 19th century. From the original altarpiece, the Mannerist columns remain. In the central niche there is an image of Santo António, in upholstered and polychrome wood, from the 17th century. On the side, there are two 18th century paintings, oil on canvas, by the painter Vieira Lusitano, representing respectively: "The Saint preaching to the fish" and "The temptation of Saint Anthony".

Chapel of the Holy Family or the Lost Boy

This chapel was built and ornamented by the Congregation of Nobles, as stated on a tombstone on the right side wall. It features a mannerist, sober and balanced decoration, similar to that of the chancel and, consequently, of the same period. The central painting represents "Jesus among the Doctors", by José de Avelar Rebelo. On the side are two other paintings from the 17th century, attributed to the painter André Reinoso, respectively the "Adoration of the Kings" (on the right side) and the "Adoration of the Shepherds" (on the left side). On the altar, there are three seventeenth-century sculptures, in upholstered and polychrome wood, representing the Holy Family.

Decoration

The decoration of the Church of São Roque is the result of different phases of activity throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, reflecting the ideals of both the Society of Jesus or, as in the case of the chapels, the respective brotherhoods or fraternities. It was born as a consequence of the Counter-Reformation, and reflects the efforts of the Catholic Church to capture the attention of the faithful. The general decoration ranged from Mannerist styles (chapels of San Francisco Xavier, the Sagrada Familia, the chancellery); Early Baroque (Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament); late Baroque (chapels of Nossa Senhora da Doctrina and Nossa Senhora da Piedade); and Roman Baroque from the 1740s (Chapel of Saint John the Baptist). Renovations in the 19th century included the construction of the choir gallery over the main entrance, where the organ was installed; the renovation of the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament and the railing; and the replacement of the entrance doors.

Several parts of the church (eg the walls under the choir gallery and the transept) are decorated with “diamond point” tiles in the style of the Triana district of Seville, and tradition dates them to 1596. , the decoration includes botanical elements, volutes, putti, symbols of the Passion of Christ, and the monogram of the Society of Jesus) (“IHS”). In the niches above the two pulpits are white marble statues of the four Evangelists. On the upper floor of the nave is a set of oil paintings with scenes from the life of Ignatius Loyola (c. 1491-1556), founder of the Jesuit Order, attributed to Domingos da Cunha, Cabrinha, a Jesuit painter from the early 17th century .