San Pablo Holy Ghost Association

Historical tidbits of the Portuguese Community in San Pablo, and more!

 Apanhados da história da comunidade portuguesa na São Paulo, e mais! 

In 1881, seven Portuguese immigrants decided to organize a fellowship. These immigrants, John G. Regello, M.R. Pereira, António Soito, Frank Silveira, António D. Andrade, George E. Valencia, and Mary Peres, formed the San Pablo Holy Ghost Association (believed to be the first association in California).

A very important feature of the Portuguese-American cultural and community activities, is the celebration of religious-social festivals or "festas." The Holy Ghost festival is a Catholic celebration that proclaims the faith of the Portuguese and their devotion to the Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. The Festa do Espírito Santo, a festival held every year in honor of the Holy Ghost, is perhaps the most important religious event for Azorean communities, both on the islands and in the United States.

The highlight of the entire event is a three-day festival that begins on the Friday night just before the Seventh Dominga, the "Blessing of the Meat and Bread," in which a portion of beef and bread -- the "Pensao" -- is blessed by a priest and distributed to each member present. Following the tradition of charity and feeding the poor, a bowl of soup or stew is served to everyone. For each of the seven Saturdays leading up to the Feast (known as "Domingas"), a different historical or religious figure is honored. Participants decorate religious statues in preparation for the Sunday Mass. A woman is chosen to represent Queen Isabel, and she and her court join a procession. At the end of the Mass, the priest crowns the Holy Ghost Queen. The festivities are elaborate and include a parade; the choosing of a queen, who is crowned by the previous year's queen; and the distribution of food to the poor or a community banquet.

More specifically, the Festa commemorates the intercession of the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit) in answering the prayers of Portugal's Queen St. Isabel. She, who defied royal tradition, by feeding the starving among her people, until without funds or enough food to distribute, she simply prayed.

Yearly, the San Pablo Holy Ghost (Associação do Espírito Santo de San Pablo) celebrates the Festa do Espirito Santo, always on the second Sunday in June.

Other Portuguese societies include the I.D.E.S. Society, a Portuguese fraternal organization also known as Sociedad da Irmandade do Divino Espírito Santo, or Society of the Divine Holy Spirit; S. P. R. S. I., Sociedade Portuguesa Rainha Santa Isabel (the Portuguese Society of Queen St. Elizabeth) and U. P. E. C., the União Portuguesa do Estado da Califórnia [*Portuguese Union of the State of California]. U. P. E. C. (a Fraternal Benefit Society) was one of the oldest domestic fraternal insurance societies organized and founded by thirty Portuguese immigrants in San Leandro, California to unite Portuguese families in California, protecting them with financial and spiritual benefits.

*Portuguese Union of the State of California

The Portuguese Union of the State of California (Uniao Portugueza do Estado da California), abbreviated as UPEC, was a fraternal association founded 1 August 1880 in San Leandro, CA. While all the founding members were Portuguese (all but one were from the Azores), enrollment was open to anyone interested in Portuguese culture.

UPEC funded cultural activities, college scholarships, and the J.A. Freitas Library, the most complete library of books and periodicals related to Portuguese in the USA. The organization also provided life insurance to its members. In 2010, UPEC was merged with several other Portuguese fraternal societies to form the Portuguese Society of America. UPEC created two record sets of particular interest to genealogists. Those are the death claim registers, created when a member of the society died and membership records, created when an individual joined the society.

There is another organization that was formed in San Pablo on July 14, 1918; the União Portuguesa Continental do Estado da California, UPCEC (Portuguese Continental Union of the State of California, U.P.C.). This organization through mergers, changed to the Luso-American Fraternal Federation, a division of Luso-American Financial and a partner of the Luso-American Education Foundation all of which are active with a home office in Dublin, California. This is relevant not just for its historical value but because it was the passion of our beloved friend and "Mr. San Pablo," the former Councilman and Mayor, Joe Gomes. Everyone remembers Joe Gomes for his long service to the City of San Pablo, as Past President of the Luso-American Fraternal Federation, and his important affiliation with the San Pablo Holy Ghost Association.

(Photo, below and narrative courtesy Ed Eusebio, Director/Secretary SPHGA)

In 1957, the U.P.C. merged with the Benevolent Society of California, thus forming the United National Life Insurance Society and in California, the Luso-American Fraternal Federation.

https://www.luso-american.org/pcu-history; https://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/portam/chron4.html 

To learn more about Joe Gomes, our "Mr. San Pablo" read an interview he gave for the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Homefront Oral History Project. This 2006 interview offers insight into immigrant identity and experience, a changing San Pablo, and the Bay Area home front during WWII.  You can access the complete interview narrative at the following link: https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/roho/ucb/text/gomes_joe.pdf

A CHRONOLOGY OF THE PORTUGUESE PRESENCE IN SAN PABLO CALIFORNIA

• 1881  San Pablo (Richmond): The Sociedade do Espírito Santo de San Pablo is founded.

• 1907  San Pablo: Construction of the Holy Ghost hall begins. 

• 1937  The largest Portuguese-Californian newspaper, Jornal Português, is created as a result of the merger among Jornal de Notícias, O Imparcial and A Colónia Portuguesa.

• 1944  San Pablo: The Holy Ghost Hall is destroyed by fire. 

• 1974  San Pablo: The rancho folclórico [folk music and dance group] Portugal na Califórnia is founded.

The Association published a weekly newspaper the Jornal Português (in Portuguese and English), which traces its origin back to 1888. Alberto dos Santos Lemos, a resident of El Sobrante, was owner and editor for 39 years. Alberto acquired the Jornal Português (The Portuguese Journal) in 1957 (originally in partnership with Manuel Bettencourt who left the paper after a few years),. The Portuguese government recognized his work at the Jornal by bestowing him with the Medal of Merit for service to Portuguese communities and inducting him into the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator. He passed away Thursday evening, July 7, 2011. Alberto was considered both a leader and voice of the Portuguese-speaking community of California.

Through his work as owner and editor of the Jornal Português, Alberto came to be a community leader and representative, a voice for and of the Portuguese speaking community of California according to many of his contemporaries. Through the Portuguese Journal Alberto advanced many Portuguese causes and the political voice of the Portuguese speaking community.  Alberto owned and operated the Jornal Português from 1957 until 1994 when he sold the newspaper. After his ‘retirement’ he continued to volunteer his time for the newspaper until it closed in 1997.  

The Portuguese government recognized his work by bestowing him with the Medal of Merit for service to Portuguese communities and inducting him into the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator.

The following are articles/clippings from local newspapers that describe the events of the Holy Ghost Association of San Pablo. Many of these articles list names of some of the Portuguese residents and pioneer families of San Pablo.

The San Pablo Holy Ghost Association celebrates 140 years of cultural, civic and religious activies since it was founded in 1881.

"[Crown] Donated to the San Pablo Holy Ghost Association in 1899 by a member of the Moitoso family, this solid silver crown is the oldest Holy Ghost crown in California. For many years the whereabouts of the crown was not known. It was feared that the crown was lost forever. A member, Mr. Manuel Rodrigues, knew of its existence, and took it upon himself to find the crown. After several years of detective work, Mr. Rodrigues was able to locate this precious jewel and return it to the San Pablo Holy Ghost Association. This crown was first used in the parade and the crowning ceremony in 1899." (Narrative courtesy SPHGA Facebook page)

One of the foundations of any group is their local parish, and much of the social life in Portuguese-immigrant communities revolved around church activities. For the San Pablo Holy Ghost Association it was St. Paul Catholic church on Church Lane, situated between Market and San Pablo Avenues. St. Paul's Catholic Church (built in 1864) provided the services needed for the Holy Ghost festas. Below are photos of the original church during its early years.

A majority of the Portuguese festivals or festas, celebrations and Holy Ghost events were held at Maple Hall in San Pablo, which was located not far from the church along San Pablo Creek. The original Hall (I.D.E.S.) was completed in 1907 by Joe Cabral, John Regello, Frank, Ernest and Manual Rose on land owned by the Society. Unfortunately, it was destroyed by fire in 1944. Shortly after the fire, the Portuguese reclaimed their pride and glory, coming together to construct a new and sturdier structure as seen in the photo at left below. This Hall was later torn down to make way for a new Civic Center for San Pablo (bottom right photo). The construction plans for a new Maple Hall Community Center, announced in 1974 by the city's redevelopment agency, would be part of the Alvarado Square project. Maple Hall, completed in October 1977, was the center of social life for the Portuguese community, and also served as a center for dances, concerts and other forms of live entertainment for the surrounding area. 

Manuel Mello: San Pablo Past and Future Beats in His Heart

References and Supplementary Reads: If you are interested in more information on the Portuguese Associations and its members, you can visit the following links.

• The 1897 Membership Register of San Pablo Council No. 27:  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSVC-7SDD

• UPEC Chapters in the State of California:  https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Portugal_Societies#Membership_Records

• San Pablo Holy Ghost Association website:  http://sphga.org/

• San Pablo Holy Ghost Association Facebook Page:  https://www.facebook.com/sphga/