Fact or fiction. One of the friars of the Convent of the Capuchos lived in a cave for many years?
25 Nov 2024
The Convent of the Capuchos is one of the simplest, most mystical and most beautiful places in the Serra de Sintra. There is no area of this monument that isn't charged with religious symbolism, showing how it is possible to live in symbiosis with nature, contrasting with the luxury and opulence of many other places throughout the municipality. The construction of the building does indeed blend in with nature – it's even known as the Cork Convent – but as simple as it was, it was still a work of man, designed to house him in the simplest way possible. So, was there really a friar who dispensed with the four walls and preferred to live in a cave next to the convent?
The simple answer is: yes. And his story is documented. Friar Honório de Santa Maria is probably the most famous of the Franciscan friars who lived in the Convent of the Capuchos – the ‘Chronica da Provincia de Santa Maria da Arrabida’, by the friar chronicler António da Piedade (1728), has a chapter entitled ‘Vida do Venerável Frei Honório de Santa Maria’ (Life of the Venerable Friar Honório de Santa Maria). He was born in the early 16th century in Arcos de Valdevez and, according to the memorial of the friars and benefactors of the Franciscan province of Arrábida (the convent of Santa Maria da Arrábida was the ‘mother house’ of this community), Honório was ‘very diligent in teaching those he thought capable spiritual exercises and mental prayer.’
According to the same document, Friar Honório arrived at Santa Maria da Arrábida in 1561, already at a certain age, after having travelled around Lisbon, ‘Italy and other parts of the Order, making enquiries about the notable things that happened in our religion.’ He was described as a man of extreme humility and charity.
After his time in Arrábida, Friar Honório settled in the Convent of the Capuchos in Sintra. As an alternative to his cell, the Franciscan friar decided to live in a cave hidden in the woods around the convent, which can be visited today. ‘With the permission of the prelates, he chose for his cell a cave, which is in within the grounds (...) gloomy, sad and fearful, whose horrible sight intimidates humans to see it, let alone to inhabit it,’ the chronicle states. ‘His bed was of cork and a stone or loaf of bread served as a headboard, with no other cover with which he could ward off the cold,’ describes the chronicler. This place became very well known and featured in all the travel literature of the 18th and 19th centuries.
CONCLUSION: FACT
The ‘problem’ of numbers
And how many years did Friar Honório live in this cave? First point: the ‘Chronica da Provincia de Santa Maria da Arrabida,’ the document on which this article and many of the texts written about this figure are based, was published in 1728, more than 130 years after Honório's death. For this reason, there may be some inaccuracies in the dates or in some passages. On this subject, the text by Friar António da Piedade doesn't give us a specific date for the Franciscan friar's arrival in Sintra. We do know that he lived in his grave for at least ‘sixteen continuous years’: ‘No one sees it [the grave] without it serving as a memento mori; and everyone hears with amazement that Friar Honório could have lived in it for sixteen continuous years, when he was already eighty years old.’
This last part of his age can be interpreted in two ways: Did Friar Honório isolate himself in the cave when he was about 80 years old, living there for another 16 years, or had he reached the age of 80, 16 of which had already been spent there (and extending his stay for longer)? Confusing? A little... What is taken for granted in this chronicle is that the Franciscan friar died at the age of 95, in 1596, in his cave: ‘On 16 October 1596, having finished saying Mass, as he used to do every day, he retired to his cave, to give God due thanks for the superb food with which he had recreated him, already accepting it as a viaticum for the journey that his spirit was to make that day towards heaven.’ Now, if he had been living in that cave for 16 years at the age of 80, and ended up dying at the age of 95, that's a total of at least 31 years living in his cave. Still confusing? A little... The truth is that the opening sentence can be interpreted in two ways, so it's impossible to be sure how many years Friar Honório lived in his cave. Whether it was 16 or 30, it's unbelievable that a man of such advanced age could survive so long in a cave, in the cold and rain so characteristic of the Sintra hills.
According to the Memorial, Friar Honório de Santa Maria died at the age of 95 ‘consumed by rigorous penances and consummated with portentous endings of great acceptance.’ He was buried in the convent church.
The legend of Friar Honório
And why did Friar Honório de Santa Maria choose to live in a cave and not in a cell in the Convent? This is where the myths begin to emerge.
According to the stories told in the ‘Chronica da Provincia de Santa Maria da Arrabida,’ Friar Honório crossed paths with the devil several times. The devil took the form of a man and tempted him in many different ways – he occupied him with confessions that lasted for days, diverted his attention so that he couldn't hear other sinners, frightened him by leaving ‘toads stuck in sticks and other dead animals in his path,’ and many other ordeals.
But the best-known story involves a woman. ‘In order to satisfy the obedience of the prelate, who ordered him to ask for alms in a saddlebag at the place of Penedo, he left the convent and, having passed the wall of the fence, before entering a thick and shaded wood, which they call Avelãs, he was met by a well-groomed girl, whose appearance could be read, without embarrassment and in rubicund characters, the highlights of modesty,’ we read. Given all the adventures he had been through before, the Franciscan friar had no doubts: he was facing the devil disguised as a woman. And without hesitation, ‘turning to the left, where there is a large, raised boulder by the road, he made a beautiful cross on it with his finger. And as if he had been the chisel or the stone had lost its nature, the cross was imprinted on it and the apparent figure was undone.’ This rock became a place of veneration for the local population.
When this story is told, many people add that, as punishment for almost giving in to temptation, Friar Honório isolated himself in a cave, eating only bread and water. But the truth is that there is nothing to suggest that this episode was behind his decision to live within the walls of the Convent of the Capuchos. In fact, it's more likely that, at the time this encounter took place (if anything like it ever happened...), Friar Honório had already been living in his cave for a long time.