The Igreja de São Roque, or Church of Saint Roch, is a Roman Catholic church in Lisbon, Portugal. Built in the 16th century, it was the first Jesuit church designed in the “auditorium-church” style specifically for preaching and one of the first Jesuit churches anywhere. The edifice served as the Society of Jesus’s home church in Portugal for over 200 years, before the Jesuits were expelled from the country. After the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, the church and its ancillary residence were given to the Lisbon Holy House of Mercy to replace their church and headquarters, which had been destroyed. It remains a part of the Holy House of Mercy today, one of its many heritage buildings.
The Igreja de São Roque was one of the few buildings in Lisbon to survive the earthquake relatively unscathed. The most notable feature of the church is the 18th-century Chapel of St. John the Baptist, a project by Nicola Salvi and Luigi Vanvitelli constructed in Rome of many precious stones and disassembled, shipped, and reconstructed in São Roque. At the time, it was reportedly the most expensive chapel in Europe.
In 1505, Lisbon was being ravaged by the plague, which had arrived by ship from Italy. The site of São Roque, outside the city walls (now an area known as the Bairro Alto), became a cemetery for plague victims. At the same time, the King of Portugal, Manuel I, sent to Venice for a relic of St. Roch, the patron saint of plague victims, whose body had been translated to that city in 1485. The relic was sent by the Venetian government, and it was carried in procession up the hill to the plague cemetery. The inhabitants of Lisbon then decided to erect a shrine on the site to house the relic. The shrine was begun on March 24, 1506, and dedicated on February 25, 1515. This early shrine was oriented from west to east, in the medieval tradition. A “Plague Courtyard” for the burial of plague victims adjoined the shrine and was formally dedicated on May 24, 1527, by Bishop Ambrósio. At about the same time, a Brotherhood of St. Roch was established to oversee and take care of the shrine. Made up of people from all classes, the Brotherhood still exists today and maintains the Chapel of St. Roch in the present church.
In 1540, after the founding of the Society of Jesus in the 1530s, King John III of Portugal invited them to come to Lisbon, and the first Jesuits arrived in the same year. They settled first in the Hospital de Todos-os-Santos (All Saints Hospital — now destroyed) on the east side of Rossio Square and later in the College of São Antão (where the Hospital de São José is now situated). However, they soon began looking for a larger, more permanent location for their main church and selected the Shrine of St. Roch as their favored site. After prolonged negotiations, John III organized the relinquishment of the shrine to the Jesuits. The agreement with the Brotherhood, however, included the creation of a chapel for St. Roch in the new building, and the retention of St. Roch as the patron saint of the new church. The Society of Jesus took possession of the shrine on October 1, 1553, in a ceremony at which Fr. Francisco de Borja, SJ preached the sermon. The small shrine was inadequate for the Jesuits, and planning began immediately for a new church building.
The king wanted a new monumental building with three naves, but the Society favored a plan more in keeping with the principles enunciated by the Council of Trent, emphasizing simplicity and functionality. The first stone was laid in 1555, but the building was redesigned and expanded (its present version) in 1565. The royal architect, Afonso Álvares, appears to have supervised the work from 1566 to 1575, up to the level of the interior cornice. The work was carried on afterward by his nephew, Baltasar Álvares, also a royal architect. The building was completed by Filipe Térzi, royal architect to King Philip II of Spain. Térzi made modifications to the exterior façade, the ceiling and roof, and the interior finishings.
While the earlier shrine had been oriented from west to east in the medieval tradition, the new church was oriented south to north, across the older building. The plan of the church is simple and spacious — a wide single nave, a shallow squared apse, virtually no transept, and raised pulpits between recessed galleries over side chapels. This style, the “auditorium-church” ideal for preaching, became popularly known as the “Jesuit style” and was widely copied by the order throughout Portugal and in the Portuguese colonial towns in Brazil and the Far East.
The simple and sober exterior of the church, characteristic of the Portuguese “plain style” (estilo chão) contrasts with the highly decorated Baroque interior with its glazed tiles, gilt woodwork, multi-colored statues, and oil paintings.
In 1759, the Jesuits were expelled from Portuguese territory by the Marquis de Pombal, who accused them of being implicated in a revolt of the nobility against King Joseph I and his prime minister. The Igreja de São Roque was confiscated along with the attached buildings and residences. Nine years later, by a Royal Charter dated February 8, 1768, the property was given to the Lisbon Holy House of Mercy, whose original church and administrative buildings were destroyed by the 1755 earthquake. The Holy House of Mercy still owns and operates the site today. The church continues to function, and part of the Jesuit residence was turned into a museum in the late 19th century. Other parts of the complex, and later buildings erected adjacent to it, still function as the Holy House’s headquarters for the city.
