Carmo Church

Carmo Church, known in Portuguese as Igreja do Carmo, stands beside the older Carmelitas Church near Praça de Gomes Teixeira in central Porto. Its full name is the Church of the Venerable Third Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Construction began in 1756 according to a design by the painter and architect José de Figueiredo Seixas. The church opened for worship in 1768, although work on its interior decoration continued during the following years.

The building is one of Porto’s principal examples of Rococo religious architecture. Its single-nave interior contains extensive gilded woodcarving and a series of altars devoted largely to episodes from the Passion of Christ. These include representations of Jesus carrying the cross, presented as Ecce Homo, crowned with thorns, held as a prisoner and lying dead after the crucifixion. The main altarpiece was completed in 1773 by the woodcarver Francisco Pereira Campanhã.

The church’s best-known exterior feature is the monumental blue-and-white azulejo panel covering its northern wall. Installed in 1912, the tiles were manufactured by Carlos Branco in Vila Nova de Gaia from drawings by the Italian artist Silvestre Silvestri. The composition depicts scenes connected with the Carmelite Order and the cult of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

The surviving burial chamber contains exposed human remains visible beneath glass, together with religious relics and Portuguese silverwork. At the far end of the room is a partly open coffin identified by an accompanying plaque as the burial of Sister Maria de Jesus. She lived on Rua de Veloso in the parish of Cedofeita and died on 26 April 1796. According to the Order’s death register, she was buried in the church’s main chapel because of her reputation for holiness, and fifty Masses were celebrated for her soul.

Maria de Jesus was the daughter of Manuel Camello Pinto and Maria da Afonseca and the niece of José Camello, a canon of the Collegiate Church of Cedofeita. She received the Carmelite habit on 8 October 1758 and was registered as member number 850 of the Venerable Third Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The historical burial record displayed above the coffin includes the warning: “When you open this grave, do it with caution.” The plaque does not explain why this warning was entered into the register.

The crypt also displays crosses, jewellery and reliquaries containing fragments of human bone. Several of the objects are shaped around the remains they preserve, including crosses with small bone fragments mounted at their ends and arm-shaped reliquaries containing remains attributed to Christian saints. These objects were produced for the preservation and veneration of bodily relics rather than as anatomical specimens.

The visitor route continues through rooms containing additional religious art and ceremonial objects. One section is devoted to the Passion and crucifixion of Jesus and includes physical representations of the instruments connected with his torture and execution. These include a club, scourge, crown of thorns, nails and the hammer used to drive them. Such objects are collectively known as the Arma Christi, or Instruments of the Passion, and have long been used in Catholic art and devotional practice.

Another important part of the complex is the Tribuna do Senhor dos Passos, opened in 1858 behind one of the church’s altars. It allowed worshippers to approach the statue of Christ carrying the cross and kiss its foot. Other rooms on the circuit contain vestments, processional staffs, sculptures, furniture and objects from the former hospital operated by the Third Order, including historical chairs used during childbirth and for transporting patients.

Carmo Church appears to adjoin the neighbouring Carmelitas Church, but the two are separated by a narrow three-storey building known as Casa Escondida, or the Hidden House. Constructed in the remaining space between the independently built churches, it measures approximately one and a half metres across at its street façade. It was used at different times by chaplains, sacristans, artists and employees of the Order.

The visitor circuit includes the church, catacombs, Casa Escondida, sacristy, ceremonial rooms, religious collections and sections of the roof. Carmo Church and the neighbouring Carmelitas Church were jointly designated a Portuguese National Monument in 2013.