Aflitos Chapel, Religious structure in Liberdade District, São Paulo, Brazil

Aflitos Chapel is a chapel at the end of Beco dos Aflitos in Liberdade, São Paulo. Its weathered grey facade has a curved gable topped by a thin metal cross and a circular oculus window with a dark grille. A brown awning printed with the chapel's name and founding dates spans the entrance, and a grey bell tower stands to the right. Inside, a carved wooden altarpiece with white-shafted columns and statues stands against a light blue wall.

The cemetery opened on 3 October 1775, when São Paulo was a Portuguese colony of about 8,500 inhabitants, to bury the indigent, slaves outside the Rosary Brotherhood and those hanged. The chapel was inaugurated on 27 June 1779 at its centre. Closed in 1858 with the opening of Consolação Cemetery, the graves were removed and the land sold; the chapel, damaged by a 1990 fire, is all that remains.

The chapel remains a centre of popular pilgrimage, and masses are still celebrated there by the priest of the Igreja da Santa Cruz das Almas dos Enforcados, usually filling the space to its capacity of 20 people. The carved wooden altarpiece holds a central figure group flanked by statues, with a white cloth banner bearing a gold emblem between two blue and white angels on the lower ledge.

The chapel sits at the end of the Beco dos Aflitos, a surviving alley reached from Rua dos Estudantes, between Rua Galvão Bueno and Rua da Glória, beside the Liberdade metro station. Masses are still held by the priest of the Igreja da Santa Cruz das Almas dos Enforcados, and the space holds at most 20 people, so services fill quickly.

The chapel is the only surviving part of the old Cemitério dos Aflitos, an open-air burial ground for the indigent, enslaved people outside the Rosary Brotherhood and those hanged. In August 2025 restoration works uncovered new human remains from that cemetery, dating from the 18th and 19th centuries.