Perhaps you’ve noticed the soaring tower? It marks Paróquia Nossa Senhora da Assunção among the buildings of the Jardins. The church history begins with a coffee-farming family. This family from Amparo was named Cintra Ferreira. Three daughters became linked to the Paróquia Nossa Senhora da Assunção. They were Ester, Amália and Carmem.
Amália Cintra Ferreira helped found the Catholic Ladies League. She married Andrea Matarazzo in 1906. Ester Cintra Ferreira moved to Rio de Janeiro. She became a nun of the Assumption. No branch existed yet in São Paulo. Carmem Ferreira married Amador Cintra do Prado. He was an engineer and architect. Sadly Carmem died from tuberculosis. Amador then married her nurse Myrthyes Cintra Pimentel.
Ester and Amália spoke with the Congregation of the Religious of the Assumption in France. They arranged to donate land. The Matarazzo family owned over 18000 square meters. This land would be used to build a school. São Paulo’s first Archbishop Dom Duarte Leopoldo e Silva approved this. He supported bringing seven nuns from Rio de Janeiro to São Paulo. They would construct the school. The nuns rented a house near the future school. They started a children’s day school with 20 students. This maintained the educational project of Saint Marie Eugênia de Jesus. She was the Congregation’s founder. From their rented house the nuns watched the school being built. Amador Cintra do Prado oversaw construction. He was invited by the nuns. He executed Augusto Lindenberg’s Romanesque architectural design.
Dom Duarte blessed the cornerstone on February 6 1934. The school opened in 1935. But Archbishop Dom Carlos Carmelo de Vasconcelos Mota blessed the chapel’s first stone only on April 16 1945. Architect Benedito Calixto Neto designed it. The chapel was finished in 1947.
The chapel mainly served the religious community and students. Daily Mass was at 6:30 AM. On Sundays it was at 8:00 AM. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament happened daily. Blessing took place at 3:30 PM. A door faced Avenida 9 de Julho. It is now the funeral home. People could enter for Mass and the blessing there. Neighbors often attended Sunday Mass.
Cardinal Dom Agnelo Rossi canonically erected the Paróquia Assunção de Nossa Senhora on February 13 1967. The school chapel became the parish’s main church.
Father Celso Morga Narro became the first parish priest on February 6 1977. He was Spanish and resided in Brazil. He was part of the Spanish Mission. Father Ramón Pulido Santiago became the second parish priest on April 30 1978. He resigned in 2000. Father Pedro Fenech from Malta succeeded him on September 6 2000. Canon Severino Martins da Silva Filho from Recife PE took over on October 15 2006. The current parish priest is Father Juarez Pedro de Castro. He is from Lavras MG. He was appointed on December 26 2015.
The Paróquia Assunção de Nossa Senhora stands tall. It indicates the sky among the Jardins buildings. It sits at the highest point of a clearing. This clearing is about 18000 square meters. The Colégio Assunção and the church form it. The Religious of the Congregation of the Assumption founded the school in 1933. The Matarazzo family donated the land. Archbishop Dom Duarte Leopoldo e Silva blessed the cornerstone on February 6 1934.
Adolfo Lindenberg designed the building. Construction finished in 1935. But the school chapel wasn’t built until 1948. Architect Benedito Calixto Neto designed the chapel. He also designed the Basilica of Aparecida. He designed other churches in São Paulo city and state. He is the grandson of famous painter Benedito Calixto.
The style is eclectic. Romanesque features predominate. The church replicates a 12th-century monastery chapel. Nuns from Val Notre Dame in Belgium brought the plans. Cardinal Agnelo Rossi created the Paróquia Assunção de Nossa Senhora on February 13 1967. He received it through a loan agreement from the Sisters of the Assumption.
Its appearance is solid and robust. The interior is simple and welcoming. Arches and irregular granite columns soften it. Entering the church’s main door we find an altar to the left. It holds a beautiful image. It is of the foundress of the Sisters of the Assumption. This is Saint Maria Eugênia de Jesus. Pope Benedict XVI canonized her on June 3 2007. This was on the Feast of the Holy Trinity.