Monastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon, Portugal

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Monastery of São Vicente de Fora, the church can be seen on the left; Credit – By Deensel – Lisbon, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69227699

The Roman Catholic Monastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon, Portugal contains the Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza, the burial site for members of the House of Braganza that reigned in Portugal from 1640 until the monarchy was abolished in 1910. In 1640, the Braganzas came to rule the Kingdom of Portugal when the Portuguese Restoration War ended the sixty-year rule of Portugal by the Spanish Habsburgs. João II, Duke of Braganza became King João IV of Portugal. From 1640 – 1822, the Braganzas ruled Portugal and the Portuguese Empire. In 1822, Brazil, part of the Portuguese Empire, became independent and the Braganzas also reigned as rulers of the Empire of Brazil. The Braganzas lost their power when Emperor Pedro II of Brazil was deposed in Brazil in 1889 and when King Manuel II of Portugal was deposed Portugal in 1910.

The Monastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon, Portugal was founded in 1147 as an Augustinian monastery by Afonso Henriques, the first King of Portugal (reigned 1139 – 1185). It was dedicated to São Vicente de Fora (Saint Vincent of Saragossa), patron saint of Lisbon, who was martyred by the Romans around 304. The monastery we see today is the result of a reconstruction project started by King Felipe II of Spain from the House of Habsburg, who also became King of Portugal (as Felipe I) after the Portuguese succession crisis of 1580.

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The Church of the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora

The Church of the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora; Credit – By Andreas Manessinger – Arriving at São Vicente, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46171873

The construction of the monastery church began in 1582 under the supervision of the Italian architect and engineer Filippo Terzi using designs by the Spanish architect Juan de Herrera. After they both died in 1597, Portuguese architect Baltasar Álvares (link in Portuguese) supervised the work on the monastery church until he was replaced by Pedro Nunes Tinoco in 1624. The monastery church was completed in 1627, however, the entire monastery reconstruction project was not completed until the 1700s.

The façade of the monastery church designed by Portuguese architect Baltasar Álvares in the Late Renaissance style known as Mannerism is simple and yet majestic. Below the two towers are several niches with statues of saints. The lower part of the façade has three arched doorways that lead to the entrance hall.

The nave looking toward the altar. The barrel-vaulted ceiling and the dome can also be seen; Credit – By © José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24603843

The interior of the monastery church is a Latin cross building with a one-aisled nave with several side chapels. The ceiling is covered by barrel vaulting and has a large dome over the crossing.

The main altar; Credit – © José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24603847

Joaquim Machado de Castro, one of Portugal’s most famous sculptors, is responsible for the main altar in the Baroque style. It is in the shape of a baldachin, the canopy of state placed over an altar or throne, and is decorated with several statues.

King Carlos I of Portugal and his elder son and heir Luís Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal laying in state at the Church of the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1908, after the assassination of King Carlos I of Portugal and his elder son and heir Luís Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal, called the Lisbon Regicide, their bodies lay in state in front of the main altar at the Church of the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora.

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Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza

Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza Credit – Wikipedia Commons

After the nationalization of the property of monasteries in 1834, the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora became the palace for the Archbishops of Lisbon. Fernando II, King Consort of Portugal (born Fernando of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), second husband of Queen Maria II of Portugal, had the monks’ old refectory, the dining room of a monastery, transformed into the Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza, a burial site for members of the House of Braganza. Originally, members of the House of Braganza had been interred in the Church of the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora. Their remains were transferred to the new pantheon in 1855.

Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza; Credit – Wikipedia

The majority of the tombs are located on the sides of the pantheon. Those tombs are simple marble boxes in groups of four tombs. If the tomb belongs to a monarch, a crown has been engraved in gold on the side of the tomb and a crown placed on top of the entire group of tombs. This can be seen in the photos above.

Tombs of Carlos I, King of Portugal and his son and heir Luís Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal; Credit – Wikipedia

Two tombs of the four in the center aisle of the pantheon belong to King Carlos I of Portugal and his son and heir Luís Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal, who were shot to death in 1908 by assassins sympathetic to republican interests. In 1933, a statue of a crying woman symbolizing the country crying for its martyrs was erected next to the tombs. The two other tombs in the center aisle belong to Amélie of Orléans, the last Queen Consort of Portugal, wife of King Carlos I, and her son Manuel II, the last King of Portugal.

Statue of a crying woman symbolizing the country crying for its martyrs was erected next to the tombs of Carlos I and his son; Credit – Wikipedia

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Burials at the Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza

Sign over the entrance to the Pantheon of the House of Braganza; Credit – By Bobo Boom – Igreja de São VincenteUploaded by tm, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=78979281

Note: Unofficial Royalty articles for kings and queens from 1640 – 1826 will be published in the upcoming months and the links will be added below. Until then, their Wikipedia article links will be listed. Also note, that some listed below do not have Wikipedia articles.

The following members of the royal family of Portugal are buried in the Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza:

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Former Burials at the Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza

The Pantheon of the House of Braganza in the early 20th century, before the Lisbon Regicide of 1908; Credit – By Charles Chusseau-Flaviens – George Eastman Museum, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38249250

Pedro I, Emperor of Brazil/Pedro IV, King of Portugal (1798 – 1834) died in 1834, at the age of 35, from tuberculosis at his birthplace, the Royal Palace of Queluz in Lisbon, Portugal. He was first buried at the Pantheon of the House of Braganza at the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon, Portugal. In 1972, Pedro’s remains were transferred to the Brazilian Imperial Crypt and Chapel under the Monument of the Ipiranga (Monument to the Independence of Brazil) in São Paulo, Brazil.

Amélie of Leuchtenberg, Empress of Brazil (1812 – 1873) was the second wife of Pedro I, Emperor of Brazil/Pedro IV, King of Portugal. When her husband died, Amélie was left a widow at the age of twenty-two with a three-year-old daughter. Amélie remained in Portugal, never remarried, and devoted herself to the care and education of her daughter Princess Maria Amélia of Brazil (1831 – 1853). Sadly, Maria Amélia became ill with tuberculosis, the same disease that had killed her father, and died in 1853, at the age of twenty-one. She was first buried in the Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza. In 1982, Maria Amélia’s remains were transferred to Brazil and buried in the Convento de Santo Antônio (Convent of Saint Anthony) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where some other Brazilian royals are also interred. When Amélie died at the age of 60 in 1873, she was first buried in the Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza. In 1982, her remains were transferred to Brazil and placed in the Brazilian Imperial Crypt and Chapel under the Monument of the Ipiranga (Monument to the Independence of Brazil) in São Paulo, Brazil next to her husband Pedro I, Emperor of Brazil/Pedro IV, King of Portugal and his first wife Maria Leopoldina of Austria, Empress of Brazil, Queen of Portugal (1797 – 1826).

Emperor Pedro II of Brazil (1825 – 1891), the son of Pedro I, Emperor of Brazil/Pedro IV, King of Portugal, reigned for 58 years before he was deposed in 1889. He lived in exile in Paris, France for the last two years of his life. When he died, he was buried in the Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza. His wife Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies, Empress of Brazil (1822 – 1889) had predeceased her husband and was also initially buried in the Royal Pantheon. In 1920, the decree banning the former Brazilian Imperial Family was rescinded and in 1921 the remains of Emperor Pedro II and his wife were brought from the Royal Pantheon in Lisbon, Portugal to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where they were temporarily housed in the old Metropolitan Cathedral. In 1925, their remains were transferred to the Imperial Crypt of the Imperial Crypt at the newly completed Cathedral of St. Pedro of Alcantara in Petrópolis, Brazil

King Carol II of Romania (1893 – 1953), who had been deposed in 1940, died while in exile in Portugal. He was first buried in the Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza. His former mistress and third wife Magda Lupescu (1899 – 1977) was also buried there when she died 24 years later. In 2003, their remains were brought back to Romania and buried in a chapel outside the Curtea de Argeş Monastery in Argeş, Romania.

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Works Cited

  • De.wikipedia.org. 2022. Panteão da Casa de Bragança – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pante%C3%A3o_da_Casa_de_Bragan%C3%A7a> [Accessed 23 February 2022].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Monastery of São Vicente de Fora – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monastery_of_S%C3%A3o_Vicente_de_Fora> [Accessed 23 February 2022].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Pantheon of the House of Braganza – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheon_of_the_House_of_Braganza> [Accessed 23 February 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2018. Portuguese Royal Burial Sites – House of Braganza. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/royal-burial-sites/portuguese-royal-burial-sites/> [Accessed 23 February 2022].
  • Pt.wikipedia.org. 2022. Igreja de São Vicente de Fora – Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre. [online] Available at: <https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igreja_de_S%C3%A3o_Vicente_de_Fora> [Accessed 23 February 2022].
  • Pt.wikipedia.org. 2022. Panteão da Dinastia de Bragança – Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre. [online] Available at: <https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pante%C3%A3o_da_Dinastia_de_Bragan%C3%A7a> [Accessed 23 February 2022].