Church of Santa Catarina

The Church of Santa Catarina is a church in the civil parish of Calheta, municipality of Calheta, on the Portuguese island of São Jorge, archipelago of the Azores.

On 3 June 1534, the municipality of Calheta was separated from that of the neighbouring administration of Velas, and the village of Calheta was elevated to the status of town by King John III of Portugal.
Construction began on 8 January 1639 after the original 16th century building was destroyed by fire. The chronicler Friar Agostinho de Monte Alverne wrote of the incident, noting that all was destroyed except the main body and the sacramental bread. To mark the occasion, the municipal council of Calheta decided to commemorate the event with a procession, ritual mass and sermon in 1664. These commemorative rituals were later provided for in the testaments of Captain-Major Bartolomeu Pereira and his grandson, Father José Soares de Sousa.

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