The seventh Franciscan convent erected in Brazil, and the fourth under the invocation of St Anthony of Lisbon, the St Anthony Franciscan Convent may be one of the oldest buildings in Recife. On 28 October 1606, the Franciscan friars of Olinda decided to build a convent to attend to the population in Arrecife (the former name of Recife) and those around its port.
To this end, the friars accepted the offer of a plantation master, Marcos André, who donated 56 braças [a unit of measurement equivalent to 2.4m] of land for the construction of a convent on Navios Island. Later, this island was renamed Antônio Vaz, in homage of the Portuguese who was “Porteiro da Alfândega do Recife” [Recife customs agent] and “Juiz das Execuções” [Execution Judge] in Recife until 1605. This island later became the current neighbourhood of Santo Antônio.
In 1613, Friar Bernardino de Jesus concluded the construction of a basic hospice and his oratory, near Praça da República, was named Santo Antônio after Recife’s patron saint from Lisbon.
During the Dutch invasion, in the 1620s, the temple was surrounded by walls and transformed into a rectangular fortification, comprising four ramparts and nineteen cannons of various calibres, becoming Fort Ernestus.
The place was again used as a temple from 1640 onwards. This time, however, the convent was dedicated to the religious services of the Anglican church, that is the English-speaking military and workers of the West Indies Company. At that time, the Convent of St Anthony gained a clock tower.
After the Dutch expulsion, the convent returned to the Franciscans. Work then began to repair it and to add the infirmary. It is worth mentioning that today this land is occupied by the Justice Palace.
Continuing the reforms, in the early 18th century, the Franciscans replaced the original chapel with the Exercise House. Here, the Brothers of the Third Order erected their main church, enlarged from 1753, which came to be called the Casa do Noviciado [House of the Novitiates]. According to the engraving on the sandstone of the façade, the work on the new temple continued until 1770.
Preserving the main lines of the 18th century, today the convent and its church form a harmonious whole with magnificent details. The main chapel, for example, is illuminated by a skylight and has a semi-spherical dome, covered by Portuguese blue, yellow, green and white polychrome carpet tiles (from the 17th century), which form drawings with floral motifs. In the temple, beautiful golden carvings and paintings on the ceiling can be enjoyed. The painting of the central nave was the work of Sebastião Canuto da Silva Tavares.
Large panels in D. João V tiles in the body of the church reproduce episodes of the life of St Anthony, as well as his miracles. An iron railing is used to separate the central nave from the temple of the Golden Chapel of the Third Order of Saint Francis.
In the entrance, it is possible to appreciate a Crucified Christ, and in the visitor’s room are beautiful pieces of jacaranda furniture, as well as straw chairs. Three beautiful tile panels can be admired: the martyrs of Ceuta, the martyrs of Japan and the martyrs of Gorcum (Holland).
In addition to these, twenty-seven more tile pictures, with episodes from Genesis, are found in the lower cloister and corridors: the creation of the world, Adam and Eve in paradise, the fall, expulsion from Eden, Adam’s death, Cain and Abel, the tower of Babel, Noah, the flood, Abraham, Enoch and others.
The sacristy contains repositories, dressers, washbasins and various oil paintings. With silver handles, the furniture was made by the 17th-century master José Gomes de Figueiredo, who was also responsible for making the built-in cabinets found in other Pernambuco churches. These pieces measure 3.2m by 2.13m, have 48 square drawers and surfaces that are alternately concave and convex.
As seen in most old churches, behind the sacristy is a small cemetery. In the courtyard (also rather small) stands a stone cross surrounded by a railing, which was placed there in 1840.
In the middle of the 20th century, during some reforms that were being done, a beautiful strip of tiles was found between the upper and lower cloister, above the arcades. These tiles are of Dutch origin (produced in Delft, the Netherlands) and are believed to have been part of the Fort Ernestus. A large variety of designs were painted on them: dolphins, horses, flowers, whales, lions, hares, boars, elephants, deer, mermaids, monsters, sailboats, flower pots, knights, children playing.
Besides representing the largest collection of tiles from the time of the Dutch presence in the country, it is also one of the most conserved and respected collections of Brazilian Historical and Artistic Patrimony.
In the chapel of the St Anthony Convent are four panels of tiles, with captions in archaic Portuguese, whose themes relate to the rosary of Our Lady. The panels are as follows:
- The Battle Against the Moors
- The Rosary Tree
- The Woman in the Well
- The Coimbra Plague (on the main altar).
The pulpit of the convent is by Francisco Manuel Béranger, a native of Nantes (France), who arrived in Recife in 1816. The famous sets of chairs and armchairs in the temple are known as Béranger (or Pernambucano) style, having his signature on them.
The convent displays the emblem of the Order of the Friars Minor, its frontispiece features sandstone sculptures containing five arches of carved stone, and a tower retracted on its left side. Next to the Palace of Justice, on the part facing the Imperador D. Pedro II street, a plaque was placed with the following words:
In this place was Fort Ernesto, raised by the Dutch in the 17th century (Memory of the Archaeological Institute).
Recife, 22 July 2003.
sources consulted
BARBOSA, Antônio. Relíquias de Pernambuco: guia aos monumentos históricos de Olinda e Recife. São Paulo: Fundo Educativo Brasileiro, 1983 .
FRANCA, Rubem. Monumentos do Recife. Recife: Secretaria de Educação e Cultura, 1977.
SILVA, Leonardo Dantas. Pernambuco preservado: histórico dos bens tombados no Estado de Pernambuco. Recife: [s. n.], 2002.
how to quote this text
VAINSENCHER, Semira Adler. St Anthony Franciscan Convent (Recife, PE). In: Pesquisa Escolar. Fundação Joaquim Nabuco, 2003. Available at:https:https://pesquisaescolar.fundaj.gov.br/en/artigo/st-anthony-franciscan-convent-recife/. Accessed: month day year. (Exemple.: Aug. 6, 2009.)