St Joseph Seminary Church
This church was opened in 1758 as part of the Jesuit seminary of St. Joseph.
St. Joseph is beautiful church and is a favorite subject for artists.
The church is located on top a hill called Mato Mofino in the southeast section of the City. It is at the back of Saint Lawrence Church.
The seminary itself is located across Saint Augustine but access to the Church is only through the back.
The Seminary was founded by the Jesuits in 1728 where they educated many young Macanese and foreigners.
However, in 1758, the despotic Marquis of Pombal in 1758 had the Jesuits removed,
imprisoned and brought to Lisbon in 1762.
The Lazarist took over the school in 1784. Vincentian, as the Lazarist are also known, provided a very high education that the seminary received the distinction of "Royal Seminary".
The school was eventually elevated into a university. Many famous missionaries passed through these doors and pushed the evangelization of China and other countries in the region.
The floor plan of St. Joseph follows the cruciform shape.
St. Joseph also has a high domed ceiling which gives this church exceptional acoustics. Sometimes musical concerts are done here.
The latin shape church is a fine example of Baroque architecture. The decoration inside the church is well preserved.
The construction of St. Joseph's Seminary Church began in 1746 and was completed
in 1758. The architectural design of the Seminary building is simple with little
ornamentation, while the Church is renowned for its elaborate baroque style.
The Seminary offered education up to a level comparable to that of a university
and ,in 1800, the institution was awarded the royal title "House of the
Mission Congregation" by Portuguese Queen Dona Maria I.
The main building of the seminary was restored three times, in 1903, 1953 and 1995. The seminary building originally had only two floors and a third one was added at the end of the 19th century.
The construction of St. Joseph's Seminary Church began in 1746 and was completed in 1758. In 1865, four Salomonic columns were taken from the remains of the old St. Francis Fort and reused to support the high-choir in the church. The building underwent many alterations, especially in 1903 and again in 1953 under Bishop Jos?da Costa Nunes (1890-1958), who set the scope of the church as seen today. In the 1953 project, the building's exterior was completely covered in a grainy plaster known as "hanghai-plaster" changing the original surface of the church drastically. At this time, two wooden confessionals in a Gothic design were introduced. After the great fire that destroyed the old Church of Mater Dei (St. Paul's Ruins) in 1835, some relics and sacred objects of art were temporarily stored in St. Joseph's Seminary. One of the most important relics is a bone of St. Francis Xavier, which is kept inside a reliquary in one of the side altars. From 1998 to 1999, the church underwent restoration work, returning the building to its original image, and was reopened to the public on the 3rd of December 1999.
St. Joseph's Seminary Church built in 1758 is directly connected to the corresponding
seminary building and has both inner and outer cloisters.
With the seminary's main entrance is on Seminario Street, access can also be gained via a flight of 54 granite steps, through a wooden door to the right of the church's forecourt. Initially, the seminary building was a two-storey structure, not the three-storey building visible today.
Constructed predominantly of grey bricks, the solid walls stand on granite foundations. Inside, wide corridors give access to the various classrooms of the old seminary building. The main corridor, extending in a north-south direction, is 3.8 metres wide and 80 metres long, with arched doors on one side and arched windows facing the inner patio. The ground floor is paved with stone and ceramic tiles, while most of the upper floors are laid with teak. On the top floor of the seminary building, the timber structure with purlins and rafter supporting the roof similar to Chinese construction techniques is visible from the inside. The roof is covered with Chinese tiles. The architectural design of the seminary building is simple, with few ornamental markings. It is fundamentally neo-classical in style.
In contrast to the seminary building, the church is renowned for its elaborate baroque style. The main façade of St. Joseph's Seminary Church is a magnificent elevation, with two towers roofed with deep red glazed tiles. The façade is 26.4 metres wide and has three horizontal levels, measuring 17.5 metres at the highest point. A broken arch, typical of Baroque architecture, tops the main entrance of the church. The whole composition of the façade is symmetrical and the windows on the first floor, corresponding to the inner high-choir, follow the rhythm dictated by the entrances below. The curved pediment on top displays the Jesuit insignia at the centre. There are three entrances in the main façade of the church, with the central entrance leading directly into the nave and the other two entrances leading to side altars. The church is laid out in the shape of a Latin cross with the longer arm measuring 27 metres and the shorter arm measuring 16 metres. The three altars are elaborately ornamented and the broken arch pediments are supported by two sets of four spiral columns with gold-leaf motifs. The main altar houses a statue of St. Joseph. Supporting the high-choir at the entrance of the church are four spiral Salomonic columns. The church has seven tombstones of prominent local residents inserted into the walls and floor. The decorative motifs that adorn the interior of the church are mostly baroque in style.
The ornamentation can be found in the semi-spherical dome of the church, the vaulted arched ceilings over the altars and the high-choir, the Corinthian pilasters and the pediments. The decorative elements are in light yellow and white paint finishing with the occasional gold-leaf decoration. The four joined vaults over the three altars and the high-choir form sub-spaces around the central dome, which is 12.5 metres in diameter and 19 metres at its highest point. It is decorated with three rows of sixteen clerestories.
Those on the top row are fixed and the others in the lower two rows serve as ventilators. The interior of the dome is painted white, with the insignia of the Jesuits placed at the centre.
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Other Catholic churches
in this website
Macau Catholic Cathedral, Ruins of St.
Paul, Leal Senado Square St Dominic Church,
St. Anthony Parish, St. Lazarus
Parish, St. Augustine Church, St.
Lawrence Church, Our Lady of Fatima Parish,
St. Joseph the Worker Parish, St. Joseph Seminary,
St. Michael Cemetery, Mt.
Carmel Parish, Francis Xavier Coloane Parish,
St. Francis Macau, Kaho
Chapel in Coloane.
Chapels
Our Lady of Guia Chapel, Sao Tiago Fortress Chapel,
Penha Chapel.
Heritage Protestant Sites: Morrison Protestant Chapel and Cementery.
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