Angola Field Group

An altar at Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Carmo (The Church of Our Lady of Carmel).

Pope Benedict XVI is coming to Luanda March 20th. In recognition of his visit, the Angola Field Group is offering a Tour of the Historic Churches of Luanda on Saturday February 28, 7:30 AM. We will visit six Catholic churches all built in the 1600’s and will be allowed to enter each church, from the very ornate Church of Jesus in Cidade Alta, originally constructed beginning in 1612, to the simple Church of Our Lady of the Cape, located on the Ilha and built by local fishermen who dedicated the chapel to the Virgin Mary who appeared to them while they were fishing in the waters off the Ilha back in 1648.
Irma Maria Amélia, a Franciscan nun who received her doctorate in Theology from the Pontifical Georgian University in Rome and a Master’s degree in Linguistics and Modern Languages from Stanford University, will be our guide and give an historical background of each church. This will be an approximately three hour long tour and we will drive to each church. The Angola Field Group is asking each participant to donate 3,000 kwanzas to help towards the operating costs of the nursery that is part of the créche the Franciscan Sisters run in Viana for children whose mothers are struggling to support them.
To sign up email Henriette at angolafieldgroup@gmail.com by February 20th. Please indicate if you need transport or alternatively whether you have space in your vehicle for passenger/s. You will receive a confirmation email with meeting point details, etc, on Monday, February 23. (Our trips are always oversubscribed so signing up is not an automatic confirmation that you are on the trip.) For more photos, scroll down or visit this site’s History page.

Igreja de Nossa Senhora dos Remédios (The Church of Our Lady of Remedies).

Details from wooden carving in The Church of Jesus, showing baptism of Queen Ginga.

Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Cabo (The Church of Our Lady of the Cape on the Ilha).