Água de Pena
Encyclopedia
Água de Pena is a civil parish
in the municipality of Machico
in the Portuguese
archipelago of Madeira
. In 2001, the population hovered around 1759 residents, in a flat escarpment extending 1.74 kilometres into an area of 5.15 km² along the south-east coast of the island of Madeira.
after he disembarked along the coastal spillway of Machico, likely around July 1419; the escarpment of Penedo overlook the beach of Machico, and the crew encamped in the shadow of the promontory overnight, before exploring the island the next day. Father Gaspar Frutuoso
later recounted:
It was this second parish that made the discoverers call port on this ignored island. The Porto do Seixo was written into the history of the discoveries as the first locality visited by the discoveres on the second day of their exploration along the coast. But, it is unclear the origin of the parish's name; there are various hypothesises. Some indicate that the primitive name was actually Água de Penha and not Pena: a common mistake/corruption during the era. The use of penha (rock) is a better translation for the description recounted by Frutuoso, since the story indicated that the water sprang from a pebble or rock. A similar tale from the parishes early history also recounts that the parish's name "...was derived from a crystalline spring on the abandoned lands of Henrique Teixeira, who had many lands to the west of the village of Machico". Similarly, pena is the Portuguese
word for feather, but it is also the Portuguese term for the moulding surfaces of an anvil , which was also inferred from the promontory on which the parish was built, which is also like an anvil .
The ecclesiastical parish, since its early settlement, has been referred to as Água de Pena (1560), supported by older documents to that effect. Henrique Teixeira, second son of Tristão Vaz Teixeira
, one of the Madeira's discoverers and first Captain-donatário of Machico, had many lands "linked with agriculture and for this reason was very wealthy, ennobling the village of Machico with many suger cane machinery, as well as sugar cane fields, cattle and bread, and assemblies that he ordered cut and take advantage...". A historical genealogy of the Teixeiras, notes that Hirão Teixeira, grandson of Henrique Teixeira, settled, lived and died in Água de Pena, before being buried in the Chapel of Conceição in Machico (1551).
Either in a pre-existent chapel, or one that was constructed, the new parish began function around 1561, under its first paster, Father Tomé Gomes. The annual stipend for its clergy was a meager 9000 réis
in 1572, and increased by 3000 réis ib 14 December 1588. By 5 February 1592, royal records indicated the annual salary was 19,000 réis, one moio (60 alqueires) and one pipa (500 kilograms) of wine. Other documents from the historical ombudsman of the archipelago, per mandate of the Council of Trade (13 March 1694) ordered the spending of 651,000 réis on expenses associated with quarrying rock and carpentry on the new church, and a secondary receipt for 4000000 réis for similar expenses to build the church in an area that was more "convenient and less windy" (2 April 1745). Local historians assume that the 1694 mandate was never executed, and that the 1745 expenses were actually a response to damages suffered in the 50 year span. The commercial businesses associated with the parish accounted for 3000 réis worth of income (15 June 1598).
The principal vicar and governor, Bishop António Alfredo de Santa Catarina Braga, sent out a proclamation on 13 June 1836, to extinguishing the independent parish of Água de Pena and incorporating into grand parish of Santo da Serra e Água de Pena, with its seat in Água de Pena. This was an arbitrary and capriciousness act: Santo da Serra was a subsidiary of the parish of Machico (created in 1813), but the clergy did not reside in the parish, the annexation of Água de Pena to Santo da Serra, allowed the vicar to have residency in the appropriate parish. This did not last long, per law established on the 24 June 1848, the old parish was re-established, but losing the locality of Achada do Barro (which became part of Santo da Serra) and gaining Torre and Ventrecha (which belonged to the parish of Santa Cruz).
In the past, its ocean-front position was served by a small port, with a rock/pebble beach (Calhau do Seixo), situated near the mouth of the ravine of the same name (Ribeira do Seixo). In 1995, owing to the lengthening of the airport in Santa Catarina, the Calhau do Seixo was destroyed in order to construct a dyke to allow the construction of massive support pillars for the remodelled Madeira Airport.
It is approximately 2 kilometres from either villages of Santa Cruz and Machico (the central part of the parish is equidistant from both), while it is 20 kilometres from the regional capital, Funchal
.
The lands in the parish are irrigated by levadas (manmade water trasnport canals), including the Levadas do Moinho da Serra (which come from Santa Cruz), Levada Nova (which is divereted from the Ribeira do Machico, and the Levada do Lugarinho (whose course flows south from the place of the same name).
Água de Pena has a school, a lyceum, a gymnasium, a church and a square .
Freguesia
Freguesia is the Portuguese term for a secondary local administrative unit in Portugal and some of its former colonies, and a former secondary local administrative unit in Macau, roughly equivalent to an administrative parish. A freguesia is a subdivision of a concelho, the Portuguese synonym term...
in the municipality of Machico
Machico
Machico is a city and municipality in the northeastern part of the island of Madeira, in the Autonomous Region of Madeira. The easternmost municipality on the island, it is also the third most populous area; its population was 21,747...
in the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
archipelago of Madeira
Madeira
Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...
. In 2001, the population hovered around 1759 residents, in a flat escarpment extending 1.74 kilometres into an area of 5.15 km² along the south-east coast of the island of Madeira.
History
The area of Água de Pena was first sited by the crew and explorers with João Gonçalves ZarcoJoão Gonçalves Zarco
João Gonçalves Zarco was a Portuguese explorer who established settlements and recognition of the Madeira Islands, and was appointed first captain of Funchal by Henry the Navigator.-Life:...
after he disembarked along the coastal spillway of Machico, likely around July 1419; the escarpment of Penedo overlook the beach of Machico, and the crew encamped in the shadow of the promontory overnight, before exploring the island the next day. Father Gaspar Frutuoso
Gaspar Frutuoso
Gaspar Frutuoso was a Portuguese priest, historian and humanist from the island of São Miguel, in the Azores...
later recounted:
- "And, the following day, running further ahead, always following the land, they found a fresh valley and warm pasture with a ravine of water, which fell to the sea with much freshness. There he made some men, who went to find another spring, that exited a large, old and smooth pebble, and was so precious and cold, that he ordered a flask filled in order to take to the Infante; and because of this port (wherein he found the same), the Port of the Pebble, which is today called, became the small port's lands that constituted the future parish of Água de Pena."
It was this second parish that made the discoverers call port on this ignored island. The Porto do Seixo was written into the history of the discoveries as the first locality visited by the discoveres on the second day of their exploration along the coast. But, it is unclear the origin of the parish's name; there are various hypothesises. Some indicate that the primitive name was actually Água de Penha and not Pena: a common mistake/corruption during the era. The use of penha (rock) is a better translation for the description recounted by Frutuoso, since the story indicated that the water sprang from a pebble or rock. A similar tale from the parishes early history also recounts that the parish's name "...was derived from a crystalline spring on the abandoned lands of Henrique Teixeira, who had many lands to the west of the village of Machico". Similarly, pena is the Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
word for feather, but it is also the Portuguese term for the moulding surfaces of an anvil , which was also inferred from the promontory on which the parish was built, which is also like an anvil .
The ecclesiastical parish, since its early settlement, has been referred to as Água de Pena (1560), supported by older documents to that effect. Henrique Teixeira, second son of Tristão Vaz Teixeira
Tristão Vaz Teixeira
Tristão Vaz Teixeira was a Portuguese navigator and explorer who, together with João Gonçalves Zarco and Bartolomeu Perestrelo, discovered the Madeira Islands...
, one of the Madeira's discoverers and first Captain-donatário of Machico, had many lands "linked with agriculture and for this reason was very wealthy, ennobling the village of Machico with many suger cane machinery, as well as sugar cane fields, cattle and bread, and assemblies that he ordered cut and take advantage...". A historical genealogy of the Teixeiras, notes that Hirão Teixeira, grandson of Henrique Teixeira, settled, lived and died in Água de Pena, before being buried in the Chapel of Conceição in Machico (1551).
Either in a pre-existent chapel, or one that was constructed, the new parish began function around 1561, under its first paster, Father Tomé Gomes. The annual stipend for its clergy was a meager 9000 réis
Portuguese real
The real was the unit of currency of Portugal from around 1430 until 1911. It replaced the dinheiro at the rate of 1 real = 840 dinheiros and was itself replaced by the escudo at a rate of 1 escudo = 1000 réis...
in 1572, and increased by 3000 réis ib 14 December 1588. By 5 February 1592, royal records indicated the annual salary was 19,000 réis, one moio (60 alqueires) and one pipa (500 kilograms) of wine. Other documents from the historical ombudsman of the archipelago, per mandate of the Council of Trade (13 March 1694) ordered the spending of 651,000 réis on expenses associated with quarrying rock and carpentry on the new church, and a secondary receipt for 4000000 réis for similar expenses to build the church in an area that was more "convenient and less windy" (2 April 1745). Local historians assume that the 1694 mandate was never executed, and that the 1745 expenses were actually a response to damages suffered in the 50 year span. The commercial businesses associated with the parish accounted for 3000 réis worth of income (15 June 1598).
The principal vicar and governor, Bishop António Alfredo de Santa Catarina Braga, sent out a proclamation on 13 June 1836, to extinguishing the independent parish of Água de Pena and incorporating into grand parish of Santo da Serra e Água de Pena, with its seat in Água de Pena. This was an arbitrary and capriciousness act: Santo da Serra was a subsidiary of the parish of Machico (created in 1813), but the clergy did not reside in the parish, the annexation of Água de Pena to Santo da Serra, allowed the vicar to have residency in the appropriate parish. This did not last long, per law established on the 24 June 1848, the old parish was re-established, but losing the locality of Achada do Barro (which became part of Santo da Serra) and gaining Torre and Ventrecha (which belonged to the parish of Santa Cruz).
In the past, its ocean-front position was served by a small port, with a rock/pebble beach (Calhau do Seixo), situated near the mouth of the ravine of the same name (Ribeira do Seixo). In 1995, owing to the lengthening of the airport in Santa Catarina, the Calhau do Seixo was destroyed in order to construct a dyke to allow the construction of massive support pillars for the remodelled Madeira Airport.
Geography
Penned in by the parishes of Santa Cruz and Machico, Água da Pena was limited to the north by Machico and Santo da Serra, to the south by Santa Cruz, east by the Atlantic Ocean and west by Santa Cruz and Santo da Serra. It was originally divided between the municipalities of Santa Cruz and Machico: sections of Torre and Ventrecha (in Santa Cruz) and Bemposta, Lombo, Lugarinho, Igreja and Queimada in (Machico), until 1989. Thereafter, the parish of Água de Pena became an independent civil parish of Machico, being deannexed from portions of Torre and Ventrecha (which were incorporated into the parish of Santa Cruz).It is approximately 2 kilometres from either villages of Santa Cruz and Machico (the central part of the parish is equidistant from both), while it is 20 kilometres from the regional capital, Funchal
Funchal
Funchal is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira. The city has a population of 112,015 and has been the capital of Madeira for more than five centuries.-Etymology:...
.
The lands in the parish are irrigated by levadas (manmade water trasnport canals), including the Levadas do Moinho da Serra (which come from Santa Cruz), Levada Nova (which is divereted from the Ribeira do Machico, and the Levada do Lugarinho (whose course flows south from the place of the same name).
Água de Pena has a school, a lyceum, a gymnasium, a church and a square .
Economy
Its primary sector, both figuratively and economically, continues to be the agricultural sector, and the regions historical connection to the cultivation of sugar cane. In addition, banana, potato and sweet potato are annually harvested from the fields of Água de Pena. The secondary sector, revolves around tertiary activities, such as civil construction, restauranters, bakery shops, hospitality and automobile sales/service (repair and sale).Civic
- Miradouro Camões Pequeno (Camões Pequeno Belvedere);
- Fonte do Seixo (Seixo Fountain/Spring;
Religious
- Chapel of the Sagrado Coração de Jesus (Sarced Heart of Jesus) - located in the locality of Cardais, it was founded in 1907, by brother Henrique Modesto de Betencourt;
- Chapel of Nossa Senhora do Perpétuo Socorro (Our Lady of the Perpetual Help/Aid) - constructed by Francisco de Freitas Correia in 1924, in the area of Queimada.
Notable citizens
- Francisco Fulgêncio de Andrade (Água de Pena, MadeiraMadeiraMadeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...
; 20 February 1889 - FunchalFunchalFunchal is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira. The city has a population of 112,015 and has been the capital of Madeira for more than five centuries.-Etymology:...
, MadeiraMadeiraMadeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...
; 27 July 1970) - canonCanon (priest)A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
, teacher, journalist and commentator; he originally studied at the Diocese Seminary in Funchal, before attending the Pontifical Gregorian UniversityPontifical Gregorian UniversityThe Pontifical Gregorian University is a pontifical university located in Rome, Italy.Heir of the Roman College founded by Saint Ignatius of Loyola over 460 years ago, the Gregorian University was the first university founded by the Jesuits...
in Rome, studying Philosophy and Theology (1914), before being ordained PresbyterPresbyterPresbyter in the New Testament refers to a leader in local Christian congregations, then a synonym of episkopos...
on 19 December 1914. He returned to Funchal in 1916, where he taught Theology at the Seminary in Funchal from 1917, later becoming parish priest in FaialFaial IslandFaial Island , also known in English as Fayal, is a Portuguese island of the Central Group of the Azores....
(1922) and São Jorge (1923), before returning to Funchal to continue his teaching career in the Humanities and Theology (a role he would occupy until the end of his life). In 1928 he was nominated to the college of bishops in Funchal, while canon at the Sé Cathedral, exercising roles in the Acção Católica, membership in the Brotherhood of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia , as religious assistant to the older Asilo dos Velhinhos (Seniors Asylum) in Santa Clara, with weekly sermons throughout the churches/chapels of Funchal and participation in many cultural and religious movements within the Diocese. He was a journalist, for many years, writing for the Jornal da Madeira (chronicles and editorials), and became a religious commentator on Funchal Radio, with his own program on Sundays, entitled Cinco minutos de espiritualidade (Five Minutes of Spirituality).