EnglishChapel of the Retreat of Saint Teresa
São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil
Religious Architecture
Founded in 1752 by the famous Jesuit missionary Father Malagrida (1689-1761) for the education of young girls and converted ladies, this chapel was a low, long building of rammed earth with fourteen windows at the front. Its founder could not devote his time to it, since in 1754 he returned to Lisbon, he was recognised as a prophet, thaumaturge and saint. He was as much loved by the King João V as he was loathed by the Marquis of Pombal, particularly after publishing an opuscule in which he said the Earthquake of 1755 was a divine punishment due to the excesses of the minister. He was consequently arrested by the Inquisition and condemned to be burnt at the stake (1761). The retreat, which at that time was called “Our Lady of the Annunciation and Remedy”, was handed over to the diocese, passing from the Ursuline to the Augustinian order and being protected by the fashionable ladies of society. It was rebuilt in 1869 under the name of Saint Teresa, when it was also endowed with a school, and it was modernised more recently in 1972. Nowadays it is the School of Saint Teresa of the Doroteias. The most interesting feature is the chapel, which has the same size and appearance as a church. Surviving from the period of its construction is the façade with a late baroque door with three windows and a spectacular curved broken pediment in the rococo style, decorated with volutes and thick moulding. It still preserves the bench where Father Malagrida used to sleep and the image of Our Lady of the Missions, which accompanied him when he walked along the streets asking for donations for its construction. It has the most beautiful rococo pediment in the city. Notwithstanding the simple classicism typical of the architecture to be found in Maranhão, it heralded a new category of churches – perhaps from an outside architect – and clearly influenced several others (Our Lady of the Rosary in Alcântara, 1781; Saint Pantaleon, 1782; Saint Anne, 1794).