Convent of Caloura
| Convent of Caloura (Convento da Caloura) | |
| Religious Shelter of Caloura | |
| Convent (Convento) | |
 The coastline community of Caloura, and centrally, the location of the Convent of the same name
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| Official name: Convento da Caloura/Recolhimento da Caloura | |
| Country |  Portugal |
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| Autonomous Region |  Azores |
| Group | Eastern |
| Island | São Miguel |
| Municipality | Lagoa |
| Location | Água de Pau |
| - elevation | 11 m (36 ft) |
| - coordinates | 37°42′43″N 25°29′48″W / 37.71194°N 25.49667°WCoordinates: 37°42′43″N 25°29′48″W / 37.71194°N 25.49667°W |
| Length | 57.25 m (188 ft), North-South |
| Width | 48.50 m (159 ft), West-East |
| Architects | unknown |
| Materials | Stone masonry, Basalt, Marble, Azulejo, Wood |
| Origin | c. 1440 |
| - Initiated | 20 November 1632 |
| Owner | Portuguese Republic |
| For public | Private |
| Visitation | Closed |
| Management | Instituto Gestão do Patrimonio Arquitectónico e Arqueológico |
| Status | Property of Public Interest |
 Location of the palace in the municipality of Lagoa
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The Convent of Caloura (Portuguese: Convento da Caloura) is a Portuguese 16th-century convent located in the civil parish of Água de Pau, in the municipality of Lagoa, on the island of São Miguel in the archipelago of the Azores.
Around 1440, from the writings of friar Agostinho de Santa Maria, the construction of a small chapel to Nossa Senhora da Conceição (Our Lady of the Conception) was built by a hermit named Joanne Anes, on this site.
On 28 July 1515, King Manuel elevated the settlement of Água de Pau to the status of town, that consisted of half a league of land, de-annexing the territory from Vila Franca.
Father Gaspar Frutuoso noted that by 1522, the year of the cataclysmic earthquake and landslide in Vila Franca, there already existed a small chapel in the sheltered area, to the invocation of Nossa Senhora da Conceição: the coastal area escaped the cataclysm in Vila Franca. During these events, Jorge de Mota, a knight in the service of the Aviz, who lived in an estate with houses, orchards and chapel (dedicated to São João Baptista) recounted an episode when his daughter, a devout person, and her travelling companion, Isabel Afonso (a native of Braga or Ponte de Lima) had come to São Miguel with her husband Rodrigo Afonso and niece. They had planned to travel overnight to the hermitage of Santa Clara in Ponta Delgada, with Jorge de Mota's daughter's half-sisters (between four and nine). Along the road, sighting the chapel in the Vale de Cabaços (Caloura), they decided to remain there. Later, discovering where his daughters were, Jorge da Mota did what he could to convince the girls to return to his estate, but they reluctantly remained in the hermitage for the next six months, owing to the events of the earthquake and landslide in Vila Franca. Since the site only offered a small hermitage with sacristy, the town council of Vila Franca and settlers of Água de Pau constructed (with their meagre funds) a small house where the two lady's began to preach, taking up residence before Easter and adopting the names Maria de Jesus and Maria dos Anjos. Maria de Jesus wrote to her father, Jorge de Mota, asking that four of his daughters be allowed to remain, while the town council requested alms to support the women. After a month, two daughters of João de Arruda da Costa, from Vila Franca do Campo, also took up shelter on the site, followed by other devout women.
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