Convent of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Lagoa)

The Convent of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Portuguese: Convento da Nossa Senhora do Carmo; which was in fact referred to as the Convent of Our Lady of Help/Aid (Portuguese: Convento da Nossa Senhora do Socorro)) is a medieval carmelite convent and church complex in the civil parish of Lagoa in the municipality of Lagoa in the Portuguese Algarve. The original convent was all but destroyed in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. After the extinction of the religious orders in Portugal in 1834, the property was taken over by a signeurial family which continued to provide church services.

Convent of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Convento de Nossa Senhora do Carmo
A glimpse of the buildings of the Convent of Our Lady of Mount Carmel near Lagoa, Algarve.
General information
TypeConvent
Architectural styleMedieval
LocationLagoa
Town or cityLagoa
CountryPortugal
Coordinates37°7′34.93″N 8°25′15.73″W
Opened1550
OwnerPortuguese Republic
Technical details
MaterialMasonry

History

Founded in 1550 by Pedro Fernandes, scribe of the household of Catherine of Habsburg, Queen of Portugal, the Convent of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was built in an isolated parcel 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) east-southeast of Lagoa.[1] Yet, in reality two dates are associated with this religious complex, the other being 18 June 1550, when Queen Catherine of Portugal, through friar Bento Bueno (or Bento Bom) indicated her interest in the construction of a convent for the Carmelite Orders of the Algarve.[2]

For many years it was the home of the several male Carmelites of the Ancient Observance, of the Order of the Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Portuguese: Ordem dos Irmãos de Nossa Senhora do Monte Carmelo). When the monasteries and religious institutions were closed and/or extinguished by alternating liberal politicians, the Carmelites abandoned this site, which then passed into private hands.

After the 1722 and 1755 earthquakes (1 November 1755), the convent was heavily damaged; from records written by Moreira de Mendonça,"the Convent of Carmel, which was constructed a few years earlier, was unmade entirely...".[3]

On 8 October 1825, the site was abandoned completely by the monks, leading to its ruins as early as 1834, passing into the hands of private property-owners. It was these new owners, the antecedents of the Cabrita family, who reconstructed much of the church and grounds. Private masses came to be celebrated in the chapel of the convent, along with the celebration of an annual festival (with procession) in honour of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the patroness of the Carmelite Order.

In 1867, based on ordinances issued on 26 November 1863 and 24 August 1864 concerning the possessions of extinguished religious orders throughout the Kingdom, the Ministry of Finances (Portuguese: Ministério da Fazenda) transferred the responsibility for books and documents of the convent from the General-Directorate of National Properties (Portuguese: Direcção-Geral dos Próprios Nacionais) to the National Archive of Torre do Tombo in Lisbon. Some of these custodial documents were returned to this agency on 14 May 1894.[4]

See also

References
Notes
  1. Gordalina, Rosário (2005), SIPA (ed.), Igreja e Convento do Carmo (v.PT050806030018) (in Portuguese), Lisbon, Portugal: SIPA–Sistema de Informação para o Património Arquitectónico, retrieved 9 April 2012
  2. Convento da Nossa Senhora do Socorro (in Portuguese), Lisbon, Portugal: Archivo Nacional Torre do Tombo/DGARQ -Direcção-Geral de Arquivos, 2008, retrieved 12 April 2012
  3. Joachim Mendonça (1758)
  4. In regards to the books and documents pertaining to the extinct Convents of São Francisco in Lisboa, of Piedade in Cascais, of Santo António dos Olivais in Coimbra, of São Francisco in Chaves, of Santo António in Castelo Branco, of São Francisco in Barcelos, of Santo António in Covilhã, of São Jerónimo do Mato, of São Francisco in Tavira, of Carmo in Lagoa, of Carmo in Camarate, of São Francisco in Alenquer, of Espírito Santo in Cartaxo, of Nossa Senhora da Graça in Lisboa, of Nossa Senhora do Espinheiro in Évora of the Terceiro Order of Penitance of Faro, in virtude of the ordinances of the Ministry of Finances, of 26 November 1863 and 24 August 1864, they are transferred from the office of the Directorate-General of National Properties to Torre do Tombo Archive (C 273) f. 46-47
Sources
  • Mendonça, Joachim Joseph Moreira de (1758), História Universal dos Terramotos (in Portuguese), Lisbon, Portugal: Officina de António Vicente da Silva
  • Bernardo de Vasconcelos e Sousa, ed. (2005), Ordens religiosas em Portugal: das origens a Trento: guia histórico, Lisbon, Portugal: Livros Horizonte, p. 416, ISBN 972-24-1433-X
  • Mattoso, José; Farinha, Maria do Carmo Jasmins Dias, eds. (2002), Ordens monástico-conventuais: inventário: Ordem de São Bento, Ordem do Carmo, Ordem dos Carmelitas Descalços, Ordem dos Frades Menores, Ordem da Conceição de Maria (in Portuguese), XIX, Lisbon, Portugal: Instituto dos Arquivos Nacionais/Torre do Tombo, pp. 131–132, ISBN 978-972-8107-63-5
  • Relação de documentos vindos da Direcção-Geral dos Próprios Nacionais (in Portuguese), A-L, 14 May 1894, pp. 120–126
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