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GPS 36.95001771031914, -25.144260590919778
The Igreja Matriz de Nossa Senhora da Assunção is located in the parish of Vila do Porto, municipality of Vila do Porto, on the island of Santa Maria, in the Azores.
History
Under the invocation of Nossa Senhora da Assunção, patron saint of the village, it dates from the beginning of the 15th century, constituting one of the oldest churches in the archipelago. It is widely referred to by Gaspar Frutuoso and, nowadays, its history can be found in the work of Dr. Manuel Monteiro Velho Arruda. He was head of the Commendation of Our Lady of the Assumption.
Its benefactors were João Tomé, "Amo" and Ouvidor Rui Fernandes, squires to the captain of the donatário and councilors of the municipality, named by Gaspar Frutuoso as "farmers and main men of the land". Its works began in 1439, in charge of the mason Estevão Ponte and the carpenter João Roiz (Rodrigues). Frutuoso informs that the former bought the work for three hundred milreis, and Roiz, from Vila Franca do Campo, received "from ninety to one hundred milreis". Initially, the church only had one door in the frontispiece. In the middle of the 16th century it already had seven confraternities. Frutuoso described it this way:
"The main church is dedicated to the Assumption of Our Lady (since the Island was found on the same day), with naves, four pillars in vain, and very well assembled, with an Altar of the Apostle Saint Matias, who is the patron saint of the whole Island, on the Gospel side, and another of Our Lady of the Rosary, on the Epistle side. de Alpoim, with the altar of Santa Catarina.". By determination of Filipe II of Portugal, the exclusive ownership of the pulpit of this church was given to the Franciscans of the village. The preacher of the Convent of the Church of Nossa Senhora da Vitória had the obligation to give 24 sermons a year in that pulpit, receiving, for this, three moios of wheat and 10$000 réis in cash. The ecclesiastical body at its disposal was very numerous, receiving good income in the 18th century.
The church was desecrated and destroyed by French (August 1576) and English (1599) privateers, having been burned down by Barbary pirates in 1616. In the latter it served as a mosque. It was repaired by the City Council in 1630, but at the time there was a lack of resources for the tiles. After several appeals to the sovereign, only in 1659 was a small amount of help obtained. The image of the Virgin was returned to its niche, in the center of the high altar in 1674, on the initiative of the then bishop of the Diocese of Angra, D. Lourenço de Castro.
It is referred to by MONTE ALVERNE (1986), having at the time (c. 1695) a vicar, a curate, a treasurer, an organist and four beneficiaries.
The reparations promoted in the 18th and 20th centuries were carried out at the expense of the population and the confraternities. The Altar of Souls enjoys the privilege of indulgence for the priest who officiates at masses for the faithful departed, with exemption from the penalties of Purgatory, according to the Brief of Pope Pius VI dated March 11, 1784.
On October 6, 1832, a new fire destroyed the church and reconstruction began the following year (1833) on the initiative of Father António Calisto (granted with the habit of the Order of Christ), at the expense of the parishioners, according to an epigraphic inscription in the middle of the wall of the south nave.
The tower was raised five meters to install a clock, which was inaugurated on June 9, 1946.
Currently, from the original structure, only a Gothic-style side door and a Manueline-style ceiling remain in the Chapel of Santa Catarina.
The complex is protected by Regional Legislative Decree nº 22/92/A, of October 21, 1992.
From October 2000 it underwent extensive restoration and conservation work, being reopened on August 15, 2002. This campaign sought, as far as possible, to identify and rescue the original lines of the temple, thus managing to recover the old stone flooring, the ceiling of the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament and the original baptismal font, in stone from the island, with a cut of high artistic value.
The feast of the patron saint is celebrated annually on the 15th of August, with a mass and procession.
Characteristics
In plastered and whitewashed stone masonry, with sober lines, the ensemble has a rectangular main body, while the chancel's body is also rectangular, but narrower. Next to them are the bell tower (on the left side of the façade) and several bodies with one and two floors (baptistery, chapels, sacristy). It is located in a churchyard that is partly protected by a wall and accessed by stairs at different points.
The façade presents the spans (three doors and a window over the central door) topped with a depressed arch over imposts. The upper part of the facade has sections with different inclinations, topped off by a cross.
The exterior doors of the side facades, located in the middle of the naves, examples of the Gothic style, have broken arch stonework frames.
The bell tower, square in plan, is to the left of the main façade. It is divided by cornices into three sections, corresponding to the two upper, shorter ones, respectively to the area of the bells (with a gap on each side) and the enlargement with the clocks (one on each side). It is topped by a stonework guard with pinnacles at the angles. The bell spans are topped with full-length arches, peralted, on imposts.
The interior is divided into three naves, a central one and two collateral ones: on the high altar, where the donate captains and their wives rested, we venerate Senhora da Assunção; on the Gospel side, the image of Saint Matthias; on the side of the Epistle, the image of Our Lady of the Rosary. The six chapels are under the invocation of Souls, Bom Jesus, Senhora do Carmo, Santo André, Santíssimo and Santa Catarina. The separating arcades are made up of five round arches resting on cylindrical columns with circular bases and capitals. The space corresponding to the first section, next to the entrance doors, is filled with an upper choir. Each lateral aisle has a wooden ceiling with three mats. At the end of each side nave there is a small side chapel. Each nave has two side chapels, the first on the Epistle side corresponding to the current baptistery. The columns built into the corners of this chapel and the respective roof indicate past construction investment that must have been altered. The second on the Epistle side, which is opposite the first on the Gospel side, has an altarpiece in baroque carving painted white. On the outer arch closure there is an inscription in relief: "NSDO / CARMO / 1758". Between this chapel and the side chapel on the same side there is also an altar. The collateral on the Epistle side has an altarpiece in baroque carvings, green and gilded, and a barrel-vaulted roof with square coffers in the centers of which are rosettes or other prominent motifs. The second chapel on the Gospel side, named after Saint Catherine, is covered by an almost semi-spherical dome, with an octagonal base, with radial ribs, resting at the corners on a kind of trumpets. In the right-hand wall of the same chapel there is a rectangular niche in stonework, with a base greater than the height, with small columns on the sides and an indented lintel of Manueline design. All the communication gaps between the church and the chapels are full-round arches on impositions, the first and, in particular, the third, standing out for its thickness and for its decoration of cartouches and paneling in the Mannerist style, among those that are in stonework (first chapel on the Epistle side, second chapel on the Gospel side, collateral on the Gospel side and triumphal arch).
On the wall on the side of the Epistle an inscription reads:
"ESTA IGREJA / ARDEO EM 6 DE OUTU= / BRO DE 1832: REEDIFI= / CADA PELO VIGARIO VIC= / TORINO ANTONIO DO REGO / CALLISTO COM ESMOL= / LAS DOS HABITANTES / 1833". Do lado do Evangelho outra inscrição reza:
"A 25 DE JULHO DE 1951 / PRIMEIRO ANO DA DEFINIÇÃO DOGMATICA / DA ASSUNÇÃO DE NOSSA SENHORA AO CÉU / O VENERANDO BISPO DESTA DIOCESE / D. GUILHERME AUGUSTO CUNHA GUIMARÃIS / SAGROU SOLENEMENTE ESTA MATRIZ / SENDO VIGÁRIO PE. VIRGINIO L. TAVARES".