page_title: Old Church of São Mateus da Calheta
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Old Church of São Mateus da Calheta / History
caption_attribution_description: Igreja Velha de São Mateus da Calheta, arcada central, Terceira, Açores, Portugal.
context_page_description: The Church of São Mateus da Calheta are the ruins of a 16th-century church situated along the coast of the civil parish of São Mateus da Calheta, municipality of Angra do Heroísmo, on the Portuguese island of Terceira, in the archipelago of the Azores. Reconstructed at the end of the 17th, or beginning of the 18th, century, the church was abandoned after a hurricane caused severe damage. The interior includes a baptismal font dating to the 16th century, although largely an open air ruin; the structure has experienced several interventions throughout the centuries, with the building painted and maintained in its post-hurricane state.
context_section_description: The primitive parochial church of São Mateus was erected at the edge of São Mateus da Calheta sometime before 1557, in order to substitute the hermitage of Nossa Senhora da Luz, to support local veneration. From the beginning the temple was small and too close to the sea, located along the coast overlooking the rocky ocean cliffs. Due to its proximity to the sea, it was usually seen by the fishing boats that plied the coast, and normally the first that visiting ships spotted travelling from the Americas. The first reference to the temple occurred on 6 February 1557, in the testament of Pedro Cota da Malha (who revealed that it remained unfinished). As he requested: We order and request that our remains of either, at the cost of heritage, be used to complete the church of the apostle Saint Mathew of Calheta.
  From the writings of Lieutenant Colonel José Agostinho, around 1560, the settlement was elevated to ecclesiastical parish, an area that extended along Canada da Cruz Dourada and Canada do Capitão-mor, with the church at center. A reference document was also issued in 1568 for the parish of São Mateus da Prainha.
  An account of the Castilian invasion of Terceira in 1611 identified the Baía das Mós, the island's subsequent occupation and the existence of a community just below the parish of São Bartolomeu: " near the city, is another of the apostle of Saint Mathew, along the sea". In 1640, during the first half of the decade, from the writings of Friar Diogo das Chagas identified the church, "...along the sea, in good cultivatable lands, that are not large owing to the rocky ground surrounding it, is the authority and parish of the glorious apostle of Saint Mathew, which is on this located a musket's distance from the coast, and where from hear until the city, just vineyards, of which there are several good estates and authorized hermitages".
  The first registers in the parish occurred in 1641.
  Father Manuel Luís Maldonado, writing in the April issue of Fenix Angrense, describes the acts of the penitents in the parish, following the 26 March 1690 storm and 5 April earthquake, and the connection with their neighbors in São Bartolomeu dos Regatos.
  Sometime between 1694 and 1700, the primitive church was demolished and then reconstructed farther into the interior, while a cross was erected on the site of the old temple (marking the location of the old altar). During the construction, the parishioners reoccupied the old Hermitage of Luz. Around 1695, from the writings of Friar Agostinho de Monte Alverne, the parish of Saint Mathew, in Calheta, had a vicar, treasurer and curate, serving 100 homes and 250 confessing souls (based at the hermitage of Nossa Senhora da Luz). In 1700, the new church, which was later referred to as the Old Church was completed. By 1710, São Mateus had approximately 50 residents.
  By 1891, though, Father José Alves da Silva recorded the need for a new church even, since it was small and distant from the main settlement, since it was constructed in Biscoitinho and area of Prainha, near the port.
  On 28 August 1893, a hurricane caused large damage the church, resulting in its abandon. On 21 September 1895, owing to the considerable problems historically with the church's location, the first cornerstone was placed on the new Church of São Mateus da Calheta, on lands donated by a benefactor, further to the interior of the settlement and away from the sea. Following the beginning of services the old parochial church was completely abandon, in addition to coastal road area leading to the church.
caption: The central arcade of the altar and chancel, with side entrances, constructed of basalt stone
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