About Holy Trinity Church
Contact information
Rua do Quebra Costas 18,
9000-034 Funchal,
Madeira
Portugal
Chaplain: Fr. Michael Jarman.
Tel (00351) 965 653 280
email: htcchaplain@gmail.com
Churchwardens:
Ed Barrow, email: ejbarrow@hotmail.co.uk
Sam Gannon, email: samgan1@gmail.com
Tel 965351690
Regular services are as follows:
Wednesday
10.30 am – Communion Service
Sunday
11.00 am – Holy Communion (Sung)
People who are regular communicants in their own churches are invited to receive the sacrament with us or to come forward for a blessing.
Our Sunday morning Parish Communion is the main service of the week and is attended by the largest congregation.
On Sunday morning, we have a stall offering books to read, preserves, cards for almost all occasions, items made from Madeiran wood by one of our members, and many other items. This is not the norm outside a church, but it works on a holiday island!
After the service we have a reception where we invite you to sample one of the specialities of the island: a glass of Madeira wine or a cup of coffee/tea and a chat. We make a small charge for the reception.
Our congregation is directly proportional to the number of English-speaking tourists visiting Madeira at any one time, and these visitors are cyclical: our numbers start at 70 – 80 during June, July and August, pick up during autumn and early spring and peak at Easter. We realise that we are extremely fortunate to have congregations of our size – 70 is a bad week! – and are particularly pleased to record that our numbers have remained steady over the last few years.
Chaplaincy Safeguarding Policy
The protection from harm of children and adults who may be vulnerable is of paramount importance to us. We will not tolerate the abuse of children or adults in any form.As a chaplaincy within the Diocese of Europe, we comply fully with the requirements of the Diocese Safeguarding Policy.
To read the full Chaplaincy Safeguarding Policy, please click here!
The history of Holy Trinity Church
The earliest record of an Anglican church service on Madeira dates from 1774, when the chaplain of a passing ship was prevailed upon to hold a service for the residents, who paid for his services with a gift of preserved citron. These random services continued until 1807, when Madeira was host to a garrison of British troops detached to the island to support it during the Napoleonic wars. The chaplain attached to the garrison, Rev Cautley, provided regular services for the residents in the consular chapel and was so popular – and the residents hoped that he would remain for many years – that he could well have been a principal reason for the residents to consider building their own church. This notion was first recorded at a general meeting of the British Factory on 30 December 1808, but it wasn’t until two years later, on 31 December 1810, that the formal resolution …”RESOLVED that it is expedient that a Chapel shall be built…” was agreed. The consul, Henry Veitch, was tasked with the work.
A fund was opened to finance the purchase of land and the build, the amount required was £10,000 and the lengthy subscription list contained the names of King George III, King Leopold I of Belgium, the Duke of Wellington, the Duchess of Bedford, the family of Lord Nelson and many ships, with the British Factory contributing some £400 per year (financed by levying a supplement on the sale of each pipe (about 500 litres) of Madeira wine!
The land chosen was chosen to be close to the original British cemetery in the Rua da Carreira; the land was bought in 1813 and building started in 1816. A brief peripheral anecdote tells how on 23 August 1815, the Consul went on board HMS Northumberland, the ship carrying Napoleon into exile on St Helena, presented Napoleon with a pipe of wine and received a gift (not a payment, according to Veitch) of gold coin in return. Napoleon died, the wine was returned, the coin was forfeit and an eye-witness account records how Veitch sealed it under the foundation stone of the church.
Read more about the history of the church and the cemetery here.
During the 1800s the history of the church is peppered with interest as chaplains came and went in direct proportion to the pay being offered or withdrawn. Even then the residents seemed unable to afford a full stipend for the chaplain. The rebellious Rev Lowe displeased the congregation culminating in an appeal from the British Consul to Queen Victoria on 25 January 1847, requesting her to use her influence with the British Government to remove him; and as the British Government withdrew all financial support from the church in 1874. This latter is relevant today.
In 1822 the British population on the island is estimated to have been around 700, which means that the church was built to accommodate half of the resident population.
