Name: IZABEL MARIA DA PENHA PIVA
Publication date: 28/02/2005
Examining board:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| ERINEU FOERSTE | Internal Examiner * |
| GILVAN VENTURA DA SILVA | Internal Examiner * |
| SEBASTIÃO PIMENTEL FRANCO | Internal Examiner * |
Summary: In the files and documents related to the Santas Casas de Misericórdia of Brazil moments of supreme importance for the building of Brazilian history are registered. Not only administrative and structural issues concerning the institution are portrayed in those papers but the process of social construction as well. Their Portuguese origin created an institution intrinsically marked by a predominantly medieval Catholicism, linked to a conception of eternal salvation or condemnation of the soul through the practice of charity acts. In the XV century, under the perspective of redeeming of sins such as avarice, the wealthy Portuguese people performed charity acts towards the needy. This beneficence, along with the restructuring of Portuguese kingship administrative power, once in a while more intense, and the religious philantropy based on the Gospel writings, was the keystone in the genesis f the Brotherhood of Misericórdia. Created by Queen Leonor and her confessor, friar Contreiras, the Brotherhood was given to light in August, 1498, in Lisbon, following the intentions of Christian compassion for the sufferers. Established in Brazil at the very beginning of the colonial settlements, the Misericórdia arrived at Espírito Santo province with its first provincial owner and governor, Captain Vasco Fernandes Coutinho. It remained there through the following centuries, despite uncountable moments of economic difficulties, taking care of the local poor, becoming the pillar of the Portuguese culture as a background of Espírito Santos society. In the XIX century, when the Santa Casa de Misericórdia Hospital was founded, the Brotherhood redoubled their care of the needy. The disputes for the Brotherhoods administration (a source of prestige among the well-born of Vitória) and the daily aspects like the conditions of the poor in the city, the way they live together with the other inhabitants, the acts of charity and faith of the populace or the relationship between the local powers and the Brotherhood as well are some features that furnish us a fabulous mirror through which the daily life in Vitória can be portrayed. The analysis of the documents produced by Santa Casa during the second half of the nineteenth century propitiated this study on the political relationships developed in capixaba society, which intends to be an instrument for helping the construction of Espírito Santo history.
