Hello everyone, or rather “Oi gente”, and welcome to another episode from ChurchMapped! As the words indicate, today we are heading to Lisbon, Portugal to see St. Dominic’s Church. If you watched our previous travel guide of the Estrela Basilica, which is also situated in Lisbon, Portugal, you will of course know that Lisbon is the capital of Portugal. St. Dominic’s church takes its name from St. Dominic, an incredibly influential 13th century priest from Spain. He is known locally in Spain as Santo Domingo, and he was the founder of the Order of Preachers, who are also colloquially known as the “Dominican Order” or simply, “Dominicans”. The Dominicans are identified by their white habit and black cloak. The Dominicans have had an influential impact on European history, and counted among them include notable figures such as St. Dominic, who we have just mentioned, and also St. Thomas Aquinas as well as St. Catherine of Siena. If you’re curious to know more about the Dominicans, be sure to see our upcoming travel guide of the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary and St. Dominic in London, England, sometimes also called St. Dominic’s Priory, to learn more about them. If you’re curious about religious orders in general, be sure to check out Farm Street Church in London, England, where we talk about the Jesuits who run the church there. But back to St. Dominic’s Church. St. Dominic’s Church, which in Portuguese is rendered Igreja de São Domingos, is one of the oldest churches in Lisbon and it is also classified as a “National Monument”, much like the Estrela Basilica – be sure to check our travel guide out on that. The church is situated on what is called the “Rossio” or the King Pedro IV Square. In Portuguese, this is the called the Praca de Dom Pedro IV, but Portuguese locals are more fond of the name “Rossio”. The more formal name commemorates Pedro IV of Portugal, or Pedro I of Brazil, who briefly ruled over Portugal and was the founder and first ruler of Brazil. He was a member of the House of Braganza – if you’re really into learning about this House, be sure to check out our travel guide of the Estrela Basilica. There is also a column here called the Column of Pedro IV, or in Portuguese, the Coluna de D. Pedro IV [show picture of the Column of Pedro IV]. The location of the church is quite important, perhaps more so than churches we would ordinarily cover. This is because the location both points to the significance of the church as well as to its, well, quite difficult history. The Rossio is perhaps the liveliest square in the city of Lisbon, and has been for many centuries. You could consider it a bit like the Trafalgar Square of London, England – be sure to check out our travel guide of Westminster Cathedral in London, England to get a glimpse of it - or Times Square in New York City, United States, be sure to check out our upcoming travel guide of St. Patrick’s Cathedral to see it - It’s unsurprising, then, to learn that St. Dominic’s church also has a prominent place in the life of Lisbon, and this has been the case since the church was built in 1241. One of the things that one instantly stumbles upon as they make their way to the church is this monument here with the Star of David [show picture of this monument]. But what has the Star of David, a symbol important to Jews, got to do with a church, and in this particular case, St. Dominic’s Church? It helps to read the words, which are in Portuguese, into English: “In memory of the thousands of Jews who were victimised by intolerance and religious fanaticism, killed on the massacre that started on 19 April 1506, on this square”. If we look at the base of the monument, we see words inscribed in Hebrew that come from the Book of Job in the Bible: “O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place”. This sounds really bad, so what exactly happened? A brief history lesson. It’s the year 1492 and the Spanish Inquisition was well under way due to the Alhambra Decree, a decree issued in that year by Isabella I of Castille and Ferdinand II of Aragon. Among other categories of people, being a Jew in 15th century Spain wasn’t exactly safe: if they remained in Spain, they could become accused of being heretics and thus killed. Those who converted to Christianity weren’t exactly safe either. They were known as “conversos”, and suspicions ran deep that they were not genuine to Christianity. Many Jews fled from Spain to Portugal for refuge, but such refuge was short-lived. In early 1506, a plague took place in Lisbon and many were confused about why exactly the plague was happening. During a Mass at the Church where prayers were offered for an end to the plague, a believer said they could see the face of the Lord above the crucifix on the altar. But one new convert from Judaism to Christianity who was also at the Mass disagreed, stating that it was just an optical illusion. Another convert from Judaism to Christianity also said the same. This aroused considerable and great anger among a number of Christians at the Church, sparking a dark episode that historians now refer to as the “Lisbon Massacre” or the “1506 Easter Slaughter”. The two men who thought it was an optical illusion were dragged out of the church and killed on the Rossio. As a result of this, New Christians were rounded up and killed. This wasn’t helped by a number of Dominican priests who, sadly, encouraged the killing of Jews but in a strange twist, at least two Dominican priests who had encouraged the killing of Jews were defrocked and burned at the stake by order of King Manuel I. King Manuel I’s relationship with Jews started out well. But it started to deteriorate after his relationship with the Infanta Isabella of Aragon; her parents from Spain, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castille, who we mentioned earlier issued a decree expelling Jews, were determined they would never let their daughter marry a man who tolerated Jews peacefully living in society. And so King Manuel I agreed to apply pressure on Jews. The monument was installed in 2006 to commemorate 500 years since this deep and dark chapter in Portugal’s history, and the monument ought to teach tourists about the dangers of intolerance. In the context of St. Dominic’s church, the installation of the monument is also a lesson in redemption, a lesson that emanates from the Cross which believers profess to follow. The relationship between Jews and Christians is complex, interesting and moving. If you’re curious to learn more, be sure to check out our travel guide of Amiens Cathedral in Amiens, France where we speak about King Louis IX, who is controversial for his relationship with the Jews. In other matters, did you know one of King Ferdinand’s children was Catherine of Aragon? Yup, that’s right – we talk about her extensively in our travel guide of St. Etheldreda’s Church in London, England. If you’re wondering about the relationship between plagues and churches, why not check out our upcoming travel guide of St. Roch’s Church in Vienna, Austria, which was built precisely in thanksgiving for overcoming the plague. ChurchMapped is a travel company that specialises in churches right across the world. We create amazing travel guides for you to better understand churches you might see on your next holiday or pilgrimage or visit. We also have a music, jobs, games and dating service too. Just be sure to visit www.churchmapped.com and remember: we’re launching very, very soon! So be sure to hit that subscribe button for all the updates. Now let’s actually head inside the church. One of the things that stands out about the church is that it’s interior is very dark and almost macabre. There is a reason for that. The church has been through a lot. Back in 1531, the church was severely damaged by the 1531 Lisbon earthquake. A bit like the scenes we’ve just mentioned, this earthquake also made people believe divine intervention was at play. The words “Ira Dei”, or, “the wrath of God”, were shouted at by some monks and it almost encouraged attacks on Jews until the playwright Gil Vicente personally pleaded to King John III of Portugal, the son of King Manuel I, that the monks were engaging in fear-mongering. Good for him! Whilst it has been noted that this prevented a greater massacre of Jews, it does seem the effects of the intervention was short-lived because the Portuguese Inquisition was to officially occur in 1536 at the request of King John III. The church was again damaged severely in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, almost being reduced to a pulp. We spoke about the 1755 Lisbon earthquake in our travel guide of the Estrela Basilica – be sure to check it out! It took many decades of reconstruction for it to be completed. But the church once again was hit with tragedy, when a fire broke out in 1959, almost destroying the church completely. The fire had a significant impact on the church, and that’s clear from the fact that it’s the first thing a person stumbles upon when they visit this church. Churches are frequently damaged by fire – we spoke about this in our travel guide of the Church of St. Anselm and St. Cecilia in London, England, be sure to check it out. Let’s have a look around. Obviously, throughout the Church, St. Dominic features. He is seen here in the form of a statue as well as in the painting. In this painting, we can see Our Lady holding Our Lord as an infant. St. Dominic is shown kneeling in devotion, and he is frequently featured in paintings with Our Lady because of the rosary, which he helped promote. St. Dominic’s Church is also unique because it features some very macabre depictions of Our Lord, bringing to home the reality of the very brutal suffering He had to go through. The starkness of the depiction really does fit in with the atmosphere and theme of the Church. Here, we see a painting of St. John the Baptist baptising Our Lord, something that you would have also seen if you journeyed with us to the Estrela Basilica in Lisbon, Portugal. If you haven’t done so already, be sure to check it out. St. Dominic’s Church is famous, in particular, for this handkerchief. This handkerchief is what Catholics call a “relic”, which is an item that was owned or interacted with by a saint. We spoke about saints in our travel guide of St. Aloysius Church in London. That’s it for this episode from ChurchMapped! We really do recommend seeing St. Dominic’s Church, which is a lesson both in redemption as well as survival. ChurchMapped is a travel company that specialises in churches right across the world. We create amazing travel guides for you to better understand churches you might see on your next holiday or pilgrimage or visit. We also have a music, jobs, games and dating service too. Just be sure to visit www.churchmapped.com and remember: we’re launching very, very soon! So be sure to hit that subscribe button for all the updates. If you’re really into Lisbon, Portugal, be sure to see our upcoming travel guide of the Church of Our Lady of Conception, Velha. Ate logo!