The Saints of Afurada. Art, Devotion and Community - Part II

The new church of St. Peter of Afurada was conceived in 1954, from a project coordinated by Fernando Seara and signed by the architect Carlos Ramos, director of the School of Fine Arts of Oporto (1952-1967). The work was based on the reuse of a former guano factory. According to Ramos, there was a need for an iconographic program that would agree with the modernist language of space, creating a desired plastic unit.  The architect proposed the name of Altino Maia (1911-1988), to produce nine round sculptures for the church of Afurada. The images of the Saints were to be made until the inauguration of the church, which took place in 1955. That same year, a Crucifix was commissioned from the sculptor and, in 1956, that of the Via Sacra, a set of fourteen reliefs currently exhibited on the north wall of the church.

Altino Maia acquired the first knowledge of statuary in the Workshop of the Sás, in Maia, where he learned to draw spontaneously and to perform the right cut. On November 23, 1939 he joined the School of Fine Arts of Oporto, sculpture course. During his academic career he was awarded several scholarships, one of which allowed him to attend the Escola Superior de Fine Arts Santa Isabel of Hungary. He also went through the imaginary masters’ workshops in Valladolid and Santiago de Compostela benefiting from a scholarship from the Institute of High Culture. He also benefited from other grants awarded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, which allowed him to travel across Europe. In those travels he will have known illustrious figures from humanities and Fine Arts such as Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso. In his professional life he crossed paths with personalities of reference in the cultural panorama of the era, such as Almeida Negreiros, Diogo de Macedo, Dórdio Gomes, Francisco Franco, José Régio and Jorge de Sena.

The "Black Saints ", the Via Crucis and the Crucified Christ form the set of statuary designed by Altino Maia for the decorative and devotional program of the Parish Church of St. Peter of Furada. The figures attest to the duality of an author who makes use of traditional materials and techniques to demonstrate his modernist characteristics. Although the reasons that led to the choice of these invocations are unknown, it is possible to recognize, in all of them, affective links with the local community. In this sense, the very worshipped saints are distinguished in fishing communities such as St. Peter (the patron saint) and St. John the Baptist (patron of the parish of Foz do Douro that borders Afurada), but also Our Lady of Fatima, whose affirmation of the cult coincides with the decade of the construction of the parish church. Privileged intercessors at the Sacred, it is for the saints that the faithful direct their fears, pray for protection, make promises, and offer vows for the grace received.

  On July 10, 1955, at 3:30 p.m., the opening ceremony of the new church of St. Peter of Afurada began, an event of great sumptuousness that extended to the other bank of the Douro River. The nine images created by Altino Maia arrived in Afurada in a river procession, taken by ornate trawlers and accompanied by fishing boats. The parade began at the Oporto’s riverside pier, where the images were blessed by the bishop of the city, D. António Ferreira Gomes (1952-1982). Each image followed on a boat to St. Peter’s Small Square, in Afurada, where they were eagerly awaited. Arrived at their destination, the images were carried on the litters by the population of Afurada to the new church, which also received Bishop D. António Ferreira Gomes’ blessing. There they were placed in their respective corbels, replacing the old images. It was, soon, felt a nuisance among parishioners, since the set of sculptures differed from the traditional figures to which they were accustomed to. Within the community, few were those who showed no displeasure with the new images. The ensemble became popularly known as "The Black Saints" due to its simple polychromy and innovative style, which made it difficult to recognize the saints at the time and in their new devotional context.  It was up to Father Joaquim Araújo to create the first awareness actions with the aim of making the population of Afurada more receptive to this sculptural set, which, as time went by, eventually happened. However, despite the efforts made, as soon as Father Araújo withdrew from the parish in March 1999, the images conceived by Altino Maia were also removed from their corbels. With the admission of Father Saraiva, the sculptures were replaced by more conventional images that continued to be object of worship to this day. Maia’s "Black Saints" were, in turn, exiled in cupboards in the church's museum/sacristy room, thus hidden from the eyes of the world.