Igreja da Miscericórdia

The Igreja da Miscericórdia (the Church of Mercy) is about a 5 minute walk from our house. We often walk past it on our morning exercise walk and since the renovation of the roads leading to it and around it have been completed, we drive past it daily as a way to avoid the busy traffic and pedestrians on Rua da Sé. In the past few weeks, the church itself has had a face lift with a new coat of blue and white paint. It looks the same, but there is no peeling paint!!!

First a history lesson, thanks to Wikipedia! The site first housed the first hospital that was founded in 1492. The current building was began in 1728 and finally dedicated in 1746, It is currently owned by the Santa Casa da Miscercordia da Angra do Heróismo.

It is open on Mondays and the sisters wanted to see it. It was a perfect small, close by P-day activity.

Here is the coat of arms. The crown on the top is VERY Terceirean!! It represents the Holy Ghost and is found every where on building, in displays and in people's houses.

They have a 7 week long Holy Ghost festival, from Easter to Pentecost with very prescribed activities, parties, food etc.

We are not sure what the rest of the symbols mean.









Entering the church, below is the apse.

One of the niches!

Front and corner -- obviously around Christmas time or after. 

A close up of the nativity scene.









 

Some ceilings!!





Pretty much all the walls, ceilings and columns are painted. They are very good at simulating marble and other stone features.

We had total freedom to go and explore throughout the church.

Sisters Doman and Harper climbed the steep stairs to this place, looking down on the congregation and pews.





We were able to find the stairs that lead up to the upper rooms where there were some fun views of Angra and our local neighborhood. It was a very different perspective!

First, looking directly down to the street. 

Skimming across the tops of the buildings (our apartment is probably not in the picture, but would be just to the right if we moved the camera a bit. You can see the Chruch of Sé, the other large church in the area. Both Churches have their hourly bells, 1 bell for quarter hour, 2 for the half hour, 3 for the 3/4 hour and finally 4 for the hour that is then followed by a lower toned bell tolling the hour.  Somehow they coordinate which church rings the hourly bells as usually you do not hear them both at the same hour.

Looking out the opposite side, we see the houses on the hill going down to the ocean! We often walk in that area for our morning walks. Lots of good hills to climb!!

We enjoyed visiting the church closest to us.

Recently, we saw an announcement of a choir concert in the church. It was close. It was free. Perfect!! We enjoyed again the church and this time appreciated the wonderful acoustics these churches have. No need for microphones!! The first choir did several cultural songs. The second, a little more polished, did many songs we recognized that the Mormon Tabernacle did --- and in English. An added treat for me.