Madeira

Bahá’ís of Madeira celebrating Ridván, 1958.

The Autonomous Region of Madeira is an archipelago located off the North-Western coast of Africa. It is under the jurisdiction of Portugal and the main islands are Madeira, Porto Santo, and the Desertas. The region was uninhabited until the 15th Century when it was claimed by Portuguese sailors.

The Bahá’í Faith was first present in Madeira in 1953 and a small community has been established.

History

When Shoghi Effendi launched the Ten Year Crusade in 1953 he designated Madeira as a goal territory for the establishment of a Bahá’í community. In late September the same year Elizabeth Hopper and Ada Schott settled in Funchal and they were joined ten days later by Ella Duffield and her daughter Sara Kenny. The pioneers found it difficult to teach the Faith and after a few months Duffield and Kenny were asked to pioneer to France.

By 1956 three people had declared in Madeira however in 1958 Schott returned to America leaving Hopper as the sole pioneer until being joined by Isabel Horton in 1964. Edward and Mary Bode pioneered to Funchal in 1969 and that year a Bahá’í Group was formed in the city, and the following year Carl and Loretta Scherer pioneered to the islands. By 1979 the Local Spiritual Assembly of Funchal had been established and in the summer of that year Raḥmatu’lláh Muhájir visited Funchal to strengthen the body, holding a public meeting and visiting Bahá’ís.

In 1990 the Bahá’í community of Funchal began participating in a local book fair and in 1991 Bahá’í representatives were interviewed by three different radio stations and articles on the Faith were published in two local newspapers. In 1993 the Universal House of Justice designated Madeira as a territory in need of pioneers.