Church of São Mateus da Calheta (Old)

The Church of São Mateus da Calheta are the ruins of a 16th-century church situated along the coast of the civil parish of São Mateus da Calheta, municipality of Angra do Heroísmo, on the Portuguese island of Terceira, in the archipelago of the Azores. Reconstructed at the end of the 17th, or beginning of the 18th, century, the church was abandoned after a hurricane caused severe damage. The interior includes a baptismal font dating to the 16th century, although largely an open air ruin; the structure has experienced several interventions throughout the centuries, with the building painted and maintained in its post-hurricane state.HistoryThe primitive parochial church of São Mateus was erected at the edge of São Mateus da Calheta sometime before 1557, in order to substitute the hermitage of Nossa Senhora da Luz, to support local veneration. From the beginning the temple was small and too close to the sea, located along the coast overlooking the rocky ocean cliffs. Due to its proximity to the sea, it was usually seen by the fishing boats that plied the coast, and normally the first that visiting ships spotted travelling from the Americas. The first reference to the temple occurred on 6 February 1557, in the testament of Pedro Cota da Malha (who revealed that it remained unfinished). As he requested: We order and request that our remains of either, at the cost of heritage, be used to complete the church of the apostle Saint Mathew of Calheta.From the writings of Lieutenant Colonel José Agostinho, around 1560, the settlement was elevated to ecclesiastical parish, an area that extended along Canada da Cruz Dourada and Canada do Capitão-mor, with the church at center. A reference document was also issued in 1568 for the parish of São Mateus da Prainha.