The Capela do Rato, on Calçada Bento da Rocha Cabral, in 2023.GualdimG, CC BY-SA 4.0
Santo António
Capela do Rato
Over the turn of 1972 into 1973, Catholics opposed to the colonial war held a 48-hour vigil here. It was a woman, Maria da Conceição Moita, who announced it at the microphone; the riot police broke it up and took dozens of people away.
Today: Capela do Rato (Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Bonança)There is a marker at the site
On 30 December 1972, at the end of the 19:30 Mass, six people approached the altar of this chapel. A woman, the educator Maria da Conceição Moita, went to the microphone and announced, on behalf of a group of Christians, a 48-hour vigil, fasting, against the colonial war.1 The vigil had been prepared by Catholics linked to the Boletim Anti-Colonial (Anti-Colonial Bulletin) — she herself, Isabel Pimentel, Luís Moita, Nuno Teotónio Pereira — and by students.2
On the 31st, some three hundred people approved a motion that rejected the Government’s policy of “pursuing a criminal war” and denounced the “complicity of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church”. In the late afternoon, the chapel was surrounded by riot police with dogs; at around 20:45 those inside were given ten minutes to leave. They sang, and some resisted by staying seated. Dozens of people were taken to the police station; fourteen were sent on to the Civil Government building and, before dawn, to Caxias.32
Among the women at the vigil, the historian António de Araújo names, besides Conceição Moita, Isabel Pimentel and the librarian Maria Benedita Galamba de Oliveira, who led the prayers when the police came in. Of the eleven civil servants who appealed against the dismissal decided by the Council of Ministers, seven were women.1
The repression did not end there. In a DGS case opened at Caxias in November 1973, Conceição Moita was slapped until she fainted and subjected several times to sleep torture — the first time for seven days and eight nights, with fourteen hours of “estátua” (statue).1
Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen signed the petitions in solidarity with the vigil; her presence in the chapel is not confirmed by the testimonies.4 On 14 December 2022, the Capela do Rato Community was made an honorary member of the Order of Liberty.10 On 25 March 2024, the Commemorative Commission for the 50th Anniversary of 25 April unveiled in the Jardim das Amoreiras, a few steps away, a memorial to the vigil by Cristina Ataíde: two low walls of Vila Viçosa marble, already leaning, that leave a narrow passage between them — repressive power, the artist said, “already falling”.1112
Fifty years on, organisers and participants in the vigil returned to the Capela do Rato on 14 December 2022 to remember it and discuss what it meant — Isabel do Carmo and Jorge Wemans speak, with the journalist António Marujo moderating. The talk was preceded by the unveiling of the 50th-anniversary plaque and by the “Cantata da Paz” (Cantata for Peace), sung once again by Francisco Fanhais, and at the end the President of the Republic awarded the Order of Liberty to the Capela do Rato Community.
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How many people were taken to the police station: the figure usually given is 91, which António de Araújo repeats without confirming it (the report by Captain Américo Maltez, of the PSP, gives 74 identified, and the participants’ account about 40 in the chapel); about 60 according to Eloísa Aragão and Wikipedia; “about fifty” according to RTP Ensina.
The role of the Revolutionary Brigades: Carlos Antunes said that the BR played a central role and that it was he who decided that Conceição Moita would read the statement; Isabel do Carmo and the Catholic organisers say that the decision was the Catholics’.
Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen’s presence in the chapel: one secondary source in favour (João Miguel Almeida, 2008), testimonies that do not confirm it.
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10Entidades nacionais agraciadas com ordens portuguesas — pesquisa «Capela». Presidência da República, Ordens Honoríficas Portuguesas — consulted on 4 October 2026Registo «Comunidade da Capela do Rato — Liberdade — MH — 2022/12/14»: membro honorário da Ordem da Liberdade a 14 de dezembro de 2022.
11Inauguração de Memorial à Vigília da Capela do Rato, da artista Cristina Ataíde. Comissão Comemorativa 50 Anos 25 de Abril, 2024 — consulted on 4 October 2026A 25 de março de 2024, às 18h30, a Comissão inaugurou no Jardim das Amoreiras um memorial à vigília, de Cristina Ataíde, em mármore de Vila Viçosa — dois muretes inclinados que formam uma passagem estreita, o «poder repressor» já «em queda».
1225 de Abril: Memorial à Vigília da Capela do Rato inaugurado em Lisboa. Agência Ecclesia, 2024 — consulted on 4 October 2026Notícia de 27 de março de 2024 — a escultura foi inaugurada «esta segunda-feira» (25 de março) no Jardim das Amoreiras, com a presidente da Comissão Comemorativa, Maria Inácia Rezola, e o presidente da Câmara de Lisboa.
Coordinates: OpenStreetMap (Nominatim), consultado a 2 de outubro de 2026.
