chap, iv.] MONASTIC ESTABLISHMENTS, ETC. 71 



altareiro; a master of the ceremonies; a mestre da capella 

 da musica; a sacristan; a mace bearer; and a bell-ringer. 



3rdly. There are 145 presbyters, including those in the 

 cathedral; 1 deacon; 16 minor clergy (clericos in minoribus); 

 42 vicars; 38 curates; and 5 beneficiados. 



MONASTIC ESTABLISHMENTS. 



In 1835 there existed in Funchal three convents: one 

 dedicated to Senhora das Merces, called Capuchas, with 26 

 nuns in it; Santa Clara, with 46 nuns ; Incarna^ao, with 

 30 nuns and 4 pupils; the two latter of the Franciscan order; 

 besides five monasteries. These establishments are in pro- 

 cess of dissolution : the monks have all disappeared, and the 

 monasteries are no more ; the convents are still in existence, 

 but the nuns are fast dying off. The suppression of such pro- 

 perty, supposing no vested interests to be violated, and the 

 revenues reserved for other spiritual purposes, may be for the 

 public advantage. The poor, indeed, can be no longer re- 

 lieved at the convent gate ; but experience has shown that 

 indiscriminate alms promote beggary as much as they relieve 

 want, and if a public provision for the indigent, involving 

 some test, were substituted, the people would profit by the 

 change. Though we may be excused for admiring mo- 

 nasteries as things of yore, for the good which they did 

 in their day, yet it would be a very different thing to wish 

 them back again, and to shut one's eyes to all the abuses 

 of the svstem. 



EELIGIOUS SOCIETIES. 



There are two brotherhoods, Irmandades, still existing in 

 Funchal for religious purposes— one of the Carmelite, and 

 the other of the Franciscan order. Either sex are admis- 



