It is said that Queen
Isabel saved bread from her own table to give to the hungry.
Legend has it that
the
King tried to stop her from mingling with the poor and the
Queen was once caught hiding something in her cloak. When he
demanded that she open her cloak to show the concealed food,
she said a prayer and threw open her cloak. Instead of bread,
red roses tumbled out. It is for this reason that the statue
of Queen St. Isabel is depicted with the mantle of flowers.
At one time during Queen St. Isabel’s reign there was
a terrible famine in Portugal. The Queen depleted all her funds
while seeking food for her people and she had no financial
resources left; only her crown, the symbol of her royalty.
One morning, at Mass, she promised the Holy Spirit, “I
will give my crown to the Church if you will send me a miracle,
so my people will be relieved of their hunger.”
As she left the church, she saw ships coming
into the harbor loaded with wheat and corn! For over 700 years
Portuguese people
have celebrated this event in the Festa do Espírito
Santo (aka. Feast of the Holy Spirit), thanking and praying
to the Holy Spirit to intercede in times of danger or calamity.
In San Diego, the Festa do Espírito
Santo is the oldest ethnic religious celebration, dating back
to
the time when
the first families settled here in 1884 and was formally organized
in 1910.
Today, as it has been since 1922, the Chapel next door
to the UPSES Hall is used to house the Crown of the Holy Spirit
during the Festa. On Pentecost Sunday devotees of the Holy
Spirit visit the Chapel to pray and offer a donation of monies
or Portuguese sweet breads (which are sold to raise funds)
to assure the continuation of this unique ethnic and religious
celebration.
Since 1922, our Portuguese colony here has made
a procession (now a full parade) from our UPSES Hall chapel
(i.e. capela) with our annual Queen Saint Isabel personage
holding our community’s Crown of the Holy Spirit, up
to St. Agnes Church for a celebratory Mass followed by another
procession/parade back down to our Hall afterward. Our chapel
was built especially to hold our Holy Spirit Crowns during
the Festa do Espírito Santo.
