Old Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro

Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Monte Carmo da Antiga Sé
Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Monte Carmo da Antiga Sé
Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel of the Ancient See
Year consecrated	1761
Status	Active
Location
Location	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Geographic coordinates	22°54′12″S 43°10′32″W / 22.90333°S 43.17556°W
Architecture
Architect(s)	Manuel Alves Setúbal
Style	Baroque
Completed	1770

The Old Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro dedicated to

Praça XV

square, in downtown Rio. It is one of the most important historical buildings in the city.

History

Carmelite Church in the Colonial era

When the

consecrated in 1770, still with the façade unfinished. The inner decoration, in gilded woodwork in Rococo

style, was carved after 1785 by master Inácio Ferreira Pinto, one of the main sculptors of 18th-century Rio de Janeiro.

The Church is adjacent to the Carmelite Convent; the religious services of the Carmelites housed in the convent took place in the neighboring Church. In the 18th century, another church, the Church of the

Third Order

of the Carmelites was built immediately next to the already existing Carmelite church. The three buildings thus formed a Carmelite complex, integrated by the Carmelite Convent, the Carmelite Church (occupying the central position among the three buildings), and the Church of the Carmelite Third Order. The Vice-Regal Palace, the seat of the Portuguese colonial administration of Brazil (subsequently renamed as Royal Palace and Imperial Palace), stood in the square facing the Church and the complex of Carmelite religious buildings.

Royal Chapel and Cathedral

In 1808, prince regent John, the future King John VI of Portugal and his court arrived in Rio, fleeing Napoleonic troops which had invaded Portugal. Several of the buildings of Rio started being used by the Portuguese court, including the old Vice-Regal Palace (now known as Paço Imperial), the Carmelite Convent (in which the Prince Regent's mother, Queen Maria I of Portugal, was housed) and the nearby Carmelite Church, which was converted into a Royal Chapel and soon afterwards into the new Cathedral of Rio.

As Royal Chapel, the then Cathedral was a witness to several important events in this period. The Funeral Rites after the death of

Emperor of Brazil as Pedro I and Archduchess Leopoldina of Austria

received the nuptial blessing in the chapel on 6 November 1817, having previously entered into marriage by proxy.

Imperial Chapel

Jean Baptiste Debret

.

With the declaration of the Independence of Brazil in 1822 and the foundation of the Empire of Brazil, the Cathedral church became the Imperial Chapel. The façade was completed around this time by Portuguese architect Pedro Alexandre Cavroé, who added a pediment in Neoclassical style to the church.

Important events in the Imperial Chapel include the

Gaston, comte d'Eu

(on 15 October 1864).

The Coronation Masses of Emperors Pedro I and Pedro II, in 1822 and 1841, respectively, remain, to this day, the only two Christian rites of Coronation to have taken place in the South American continent, and both were held in the Imperial Chapel.

Prince Gaston, Count of Eu in 1864, painted by Victor Meirelles

.

Due to the double role of the church as the city's cathedral and as the Imperial Chapel where the emperors of Brazil and the imperial court worshipped and where religious ceremonies of State were held, the bishops of Rio de Janeiro were also appointed during that period to the office of major chaplain to the imperial court, and a bishop of Rio de Janeiro, during that period, was accordingly known by the title of bishop major chaplain.

Brazil's Imperial Parliament (the General Assembly) also worshipped at the Imperial Chapel. In particular, an annual Solemn Mass of the Holy Spirit was celebrated there in the presence of members of the Senate and of the Chamber of Deputies, before the ceremony of the opening of Parliament, when the Emperor appeared in full regalia in the Senate Chamber to deliver his Speech from the Throne. In the first year of a new Legislature, the Mass of the Holy Spirit was celebrated on the first day of the preparatory meetings of the General Assembly, before both Houses elected its presiding officers and before the date of the Speech from the Throne: in that case the members of both Houses took their oaths of office during the Solemn Mass.

Republic

With coup d'état that proclaimed Brazil a Republic (15 November 1889), the church lost its title of Imperial Chapel but remained the Cathedral of the Rio de Janeiro. Shortly thereafter, the Provisional Government of the Republic issued the decree on the Separation of Church and State (7 January 1890). Accordingly, in the new republican era, the Cathedral was no longer the site of State ceremonies.

Still, in the following decades, the Brazilian people, and the population of the city of Rio de Janeiro, remained predominantly Catholic, and so the Cathedral retained its prestige and cultural significance. Furthermore, until the transfer of the Federal Capital to the newly built city of Brasília in 1960, Rio de Janeiro remained the Capital of Brazil, and so the church retained, until 1960, the status as the Cathedral of the Nation's capital city.

With the elevation of the Diocese of St. Sebastian of Rio de Janeiro to the rank of a Metropolitan Archdiocese in 1892, the Cathedral gained the status of Metropolitan Cathedral of the new ecclesiastical province.

In 1905, with the elevation of the then Archbishop of Rio, Joaquim Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti, to the rank of Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church (the first Brazilian member of the College of Cardinals), the Church became the first seat of a Cardinal in Brazil.

The façades of the church were remodelled in the early decades of the 20th century. A large statue of the

Virgin Mary sits atop the present tower, which was rebuilt between 1905 and 1913 by the Italian architect Rafael Rebecchi

. The main and lateral façades were also extensively altered during this period.

In 1976, when the modern

proto-cathedral

. Its status as a proto-cathedral is marked by the inclusion of a reference to the Ancient See in the church's present official name: Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel of the Ancient See.

Notable characteristics

Art

The Old Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro, apart from being of exceptional historical value for the city and the country, has one of the most harmonious interior decorations among the churches in Rio. The walls, chapels and ceiling are covered with ornate

Apostles

by painter José Leandro de Carvalho.

Later reforms did not substantially alter the inner decoration, but the façades were almost completely remodelled in the early 20th century. Only the lower part of the main façade, with its three portals, is still original.

Music

The Old Cathedral of Rio was an important setting for classical music in Brazil. In 1808 the Brazilian composer Father José Maurício Nunes Garcia (1767–1830) was appointed Master of the Royal Chapel by Prince Regent John. Father José Maurício is considered the best composer of the period. He was later replaced by another important musical figure, the Portuguese Marcos Portugal (1762–1830).

Gallery

Paço Imperial, the official workplace of the monarchs of Brazil and the then Royal Chapel at right, 1818
Wedding of Emperor Pedro I to Amélie of Leuchtenberg in 1829
The oath of the provisional triumviral regents of the Empire of Brazil in the chapel in 1831, at the beginning of the Regency period.
Coronation of Pedro II, 1842
Wedding of Princess Isabel and Prince Gaston in 1864, painted by Pedro Américo. Another version of the same event in the image above in the article.
Delivery of the Golden Rose sent by command of Pope Leo XIII to Princess Imperial Isabel in 1889.
View from Carmo Square, c. 1890
Rear view of the former Imperial Chapel
Statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Facade at dusk
Bell tower
Nave
The tribune organ
Wedding ceremony inside the church