CHURCH OF SAINT BÁRBARA Near the port of Manadas, stands the most beautiful Monument of this island – the church of Saint Barbara. It has a single square tower capped by a dome with three pleasant-sounding bells. The façade of this church, facing west, is decorated with simple but lovely work of basalt around the main door and choir window, above which is an arched niche where is the image of the Patron, Saint Barbara. Old people of the village say this National Monument was built with stones from the quarry of Pedreira and driven down the roads Caminho da Pedreira, Caminho da Ermida and Caminho da Igreja, to the seaside.

 The oldest document we know about this church is the Royal Letter from King Sebastian, given at the town of Sintra, on the 30^th of June 1568, in which new payments were established for ecclesiastics. Then the Parish priest of Saint Barbara, in Manadas, had the right to receive 20 thousand reis per year.

Inside the church, in the nave between the choir balustrade and the pulpit there is a magnificent carving in wood with acanthus leaves painted in blue and rose, on the Gospel side.

The opposite wall, decorated with “the Fligh to Egypt”, “Saint Anne and the Virgin”, “St. Joachim”, has the only window in the nave.

In the transept, above the door to the north sacristy, there is the painting of the Italian artist who was in charge of this interior decoration in Baroque Style.

On the top of the opposite door, the portrait of St. Francis of Borja shows a written prayer imploring protection against hunger and war.

The altar dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel has a linen painter retable. The two small images, Saint Luzia and St. Amaro were probably made by the artist known as the Master of St. Jorge.

Decorated with strange human figures dressed in red and blue, the altar of our Lady of Conception, Patron Saint of Portugal, has a Pelican on the top of the wooden retable. An old legend says this bird used to give its own flesh for its young to eat. That’s why the Christian tradition adopted the Pelican as symbol of Eucharist. Whose sacrarium in this altar is decorated with angels. Also the scallop shell, everywhere in the decoration, used as a flag by men travelling in Pilgrimages, Crusades and Discoveries, symbolises the search of the way, the Hope to enter Paradise.

The most spectacular altar on the Epistle’s side is the one dedicated to Our Lady of Carmel, whose image seems to be the most ancient of this Church where there was a Carmel Brotherhood many years ago.

The other altar is devoted to the Lord Jesus of the Afflicted whose image led the people by all the roads and paths of this village, during the volcanic crisis in February 1964. On that occasion the parish priest, Francisco da Terra Faria, proposed to the people assembled in front of the Church, to implore God’s mercy and organize a procession with this image.

With the ground constantly shaking under their feet, the villagers from Manadas went every evening to pray and came home a bit more tranquil in spite of fatigue and singing. 

Bearing witness to these facts the cross shows, from then on, decorations of silver and the Lord Jesus` Image has nails and the Crown of Thorns of the same metal. Two sculptures in the feet of the cross. The sacrifice of this altar has the Resurrected Christ on the door.

The arch of the Main Chapel, above which are the Arms of Portugal and the ancient Royal Crown, behind which is the Jesuit Monogram HIS, having a cherubim on each side, is closed by wooden rails placed there after the visit of George da Silveira Souto Mayor, Beneficed Confirmed in the Main Church of Our Lady of the Rosary at Vila do Topo, who gave the following orders: “ The lamps of the altars dedicated to Our Lady of Conception and Lord Jesus of the Afflicted be alight from now on, on the Arch of the Main Chapel, well made wooden rails be placed as not to let anyone in unless necessary”. This information dated April the 15^th of 1751, is on the first page of the handwritten “ Book of Visitations”, found by the young Naturalists in July 1983 when they were working on the recuperation of the Church documents.

On the transept rails, Amaro Pereira de Lemos, Vicar of St. Amaro ordered the placement of two confessionals, on the 21^st of April of 1825.

The nave has a panelled ceiling made of cedar wood, which was used in all decoration, that´ s the reason why this church has the nice aroma of this tree so characteristic of the local vegetation. Among the decorative paintings, three magnificent medallions show the figures of saint Barbara, the Holy Spirit, symbolised by a white dove and St. George killing the dragon.

In the Main Chapel the ceiling, also panelled, was overlaid by three rows of paintings on wood with scenes from the Mysteries of Rosary, a short time before the earthquake, that destroyed almost all churches of the islands except this one, which had little damage, on the 9^th of July 1757.

Blue and white tiles of bluish hue scenes from the life and death of the Patron, Saint Barbara, whose story here presented is by courtesy of the Chamber of Commerce of the city of Santa Barbara in California accessories, line the walls, in the lower part.

“ Barbara was a Nicomedian of great beauty. Her father, Dioscorus, was according to tradition, tyrannical old Roman. During his absence the girl embraced the teaching of Origen the great Chistian doctor. Dioscorus orders a new house for Barbara, where she could entertain her suitors. To symbolize her new faith, she induced the builder to put three windows in her bedroom to typify the Trinity, instead of the two ordered by her father.

A scene ensues between Barbara and her father about the meaning of the windows – Barbara admits the truth – she is a Christian. Having exposed the new religion and abandoned the gods of her father, Dioscorus is angry. Barbara declining to receive the suitor whom her parent had selected for her, Dioscorus charges her with being a Christian and summons is daughter before Martius, the prefect. She is readily found guilty and sentenced to death. “ Give me a sword”, cried Dioscorus, “ she shall die at own hands”.

Tradition has it has that the deed done, lightning smote the city, felling the murderer as he stood. It is supposed that because lightning appeared to revenge the death of Barbara, she thus becomes the protector against lightning and thunder and is the reason why warships of the Mediterranean name their powder magazines after the martyred virgin.

On the Epistle Side there is an arched niche with the only fabric dressed image of this Church, Our Lady of Tears, wearing a blue dress and a purple mantle. A wooden bust with articulated arms forms this image, that allow putting the clothes on, and a wooden skirt. This bust is not the original one because the young Naturalists found one much older when they cleaned the storerooms of the Church during the summer 1985.

The upper parts of the walls are lined with paintings on lines representing the Four Gospel writers, the Resurrection of Christ, the Assumption of Mary the Virgin, the Institution of Eucharist and the Nativity of Christ. This last painting was partly destroyed by stones coming from the wall that fell down during the earthquake on the 1^st January 1980.

Restored, under the supervision of Emanuel Félix, Azorean poet and also technician at the Restoration Centre in the Angra Museum, this painting is still in the Centre, waiting for final restoration. All the other paintings also received specialised care, during the 80´ decades, to revive the colours, by the technician Gregório Melo.

The wonderful lamp made of silver also suffered damage during the mentioned earthquake. Thanks to the President of the village, Amaro Ferreira da Silva, it was sent to Portugal to be restored. This marvellous piece of art resulted from the order given by António Machado Pereira, Vicar in the mother Church of Velas, on the 28^th September 1768, which says: “ May the lamp of the Main Chapel be reformed. This is a very ancient work with enough silver to make more weight by joining the 6 pounds and 7 eights which is the weight of the silver pieces of money that stand in the arch of the three locks”.

The two narrow windows of the main Chapel were enlarged “ in order to introduced more light” after the visit of Canon Serpa on the 23^rd of July 1792.

In a superb retable behind the Main-Altar among the golden and blue decorations, is an image of the Patron, Saint Barbara, right St. Peter on the Gospel side and St. Sebastian on the Epistle side.

Two other images, Our Lady of the Rosary and Our Lady of Sorrows, are also in this Chapel. A long time ago there were Brotherhoods dedicated to them, dating the first statutes from 1780.

Keeping guard to the Main Altar, whose lower part was arranged to be the Sepulchre of the Dead Lord, are two golden eagles. The queen of birds symbolises the victory of the Christian Faith against all persecutions.

The sacristy covered with sheets of gold, as great part of the entire decoration, has butt hinges and lock made of silver.

It seems that all the building was conceived to call the attention to this Sacristy whose door has a sculptured heart just on its centre. On summer evenings, the sun setting north of Faial Island comes in by the Choir window and flashes directly in this very point of the decoration. During these magic moments the entire temple has a unique light that comes from the heart of the Sacristy.

The Altar turned to the Assembly was built in the summer 1984 by the artisans of the Ricardo Espírito Santo Silva Foundation, who were here, since 1982, to restore the woodcarvings of this Church. These technicians, working under the supervision of Manuel Abrantes Nunes, were the sponsors of the young Naturalists during all the time they worked in the church. Led by them, this group of young’s students, members of the CYN of this village, learned to love and care for this Monument.

Thanks to their advice it was possible to go ahead with all the mentioned tasks and also to bring together the countless pieces of wood in what turned the organ, made by Sebastião Gomes de Lemos in 1951, and the balustrade of its placement of, done by the villagers Manuel da Cunha Leite and Mariano da Silva Brasil. This last one was the father of the Vicar José Mariano Brasil de Borba, the local priest who celebrated his First Mass in the Chapel of the Holy Christ of Fajã das Almas, the day devoted to Our Lady of Lourdes in the year 1889.

The only “First Mass” celebrated in the Parish Church of Saint Barbara was, (from “História Notes” by Manuel de Azevedo da Cunha) the one by the local priest Jorge de Sousa da Silveira, on the 7^th of September 1890.

Without religions services since 1978 because of the restoration work, it still stays closed, this beautiful Church whose sacristies are also worth a visit.

The South Sacristy has a magnificent great chest with mirrors and a marvellous crucifix. Two ancient small images of Saint Barbara and Our Lady of the Rosary are also there. This last one was also known as “Our Lady of the little girls” because it was the image that in old times was usually carried by the little girls of the village when they celebrated their First Communion with a procession in honour of the Mother of Jesus.

In the drawers of the great chest are the garments and the other ecclesiastic accessories as a magnificent thurible, a processional cross and an aspersorium, all made of silver.

The artistic table that shows symbols of Saint Barbara´ s martyrdom is a marvellous inlaid work made with wood of different colours in 1799.

A small chest in the walls and two benches complete the furniture.

The South Sacristy gives access to the Pulpit, the Choir and the tower bell. Our wish is to have space arranged in order to place there the images acquired by this Church during this century: the Sacred heart of Jesus, Our Lady of Conception, Our Lady of Fatima, saint Barbara, Saint Teresinha, St. Joseph, St. Peter, St. Sebastian, St. George and St. Antão.