July 29 Porto to Guimaraes to Bom Jesus (Braga)

We rediscovered a certain freedom when we rented a car in Porto. Not bound by plane, train, and bus schedules, we’ve totally enjoyed unrestricted wandering all over northern and central Portugal. Sometimes we just laugh – we can’t believe we are seeing and hearing some of this wonderful history of our Church and the country of Portugal.

Our first stop was two hours northwest of Porto to the town of Guimaraes. We happened onto the beginning or ending of three weddings and a Mass for a couple celebrating what we think we understood as their 75th anniversary. Beautiful! (first pic below map).

Guimaraes is known as the cradle of Portugal. The first king was born here and it was the first capital of “Portucale” -the newly established kingdom.

Next we found the Igreja de Sao Francisco, established by the first Franciscan priest to come to Guimaraes. We pretty much had the Church to ourselves and received a full history from the sacristan who was excited to share. The sanctuary and side chapels were all stunning, but our favorites were the Jesse Tree and Generations.

We took a tour of the sacristy and it was essentially a museum. We loved getting an image of Christ through the empty monstrance at the center of the room.

Santuario Nossa Senhora do Carmo da Penha overlooks the town of Guimaraes. Some pilgrims hike up the mountain, but we opted to drive and it was so steep that our car struggled to change gears at times. It was a really good stop. And, we passed a little fruit stand on the way down that was just what we needed.

Next we headed to city of Braga, the third largest city in Portugal. I’m pretty sure I read that it has the most churches of any city – a chapel for every day of the year. The Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte had to be one arresting spaces I’ve ever visited. We could have spent two entire days trying to take in all the details. There are seventeen zig-zagged flights of stairs to climb to get to the Sanctuary. Each level has a statue and a bible verse. Up the center are fountains, again with verses themed on the five senses and the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. I think the center looks like a chalice from a distance. Around the property are seventeen chapels like the two in the front of our picture. Inside each one is life-sized sculptures/characters depicting the Way of the Cross plus the apparition of Christ to Mary Magdalene, Emmaus, and the Ascension. Truly amazing. I’ll let the scenographic above the altar in the Basilica speak for itself!

Up at the top of the stairs, the entry of the Basilica is a semi-circle of eight statues of characters linked to the Passion of Christ including Annas, Caiaphas, Herod, and Pilate on one side, and Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, Centurion, and Pilate (again). Also, one of my favorite statues was of St. Longuinho (Longinus, in English!), the name given to the unnamed person in the Gospels who pierced the side of Christ, mounted on his horse with his spear. He is also sometimes identified as the centurion present at the Crucifixion who said that Jesus was the son of God. He is considered one of the first Christians and Roman converts.

We could go on and on. This site was amazing. That’s the city of Braga down below. We went down the next morning and found thousands of folks in a pre-WYD gathering. We spent a wonderful morning going in and out of churches and just people watching at a cafe.