Chapel of Our Lady of Penha

This guide to the Chapel of Our Lady of Penha in Macau opens on a storm in 1620, somewhere between Macau and Japan, where the crew of the ship S. Bartolomeu made a desperate vow as the hull buckled beneath them. It follows what that vow meant for Macau's Portuguese seafaring community, especially those bound for the treacherous Nagasaki route, and why this hilltop above the Pearl River delta became the place they came to pray before departure. Stand on the terrace and look south across the harbor, the same view generations of sailors once memorized.