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Three Centuries of Missionary Work in Northern Brazil: Franciscan Province of St. Anthony, 1657-1957
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
Extract
In the words of the Brazilian historian, “Brazil was born Franciscan,” since it was a Franciscan, Frei Henrique Soares de Coimbra, and his confreres, who said the first Holy Mass on Brazilian soil in 1500.
After that, in 1516, two anonymous Franciscans were massacred by the Indians near Porto Seguro. Various groups of Franciscans in Brazil are mentioned during the rest of the sixteenth century, until, in 1584, Fr. Francisco Gonzaga, while visiting Portugal in his capacity as Minister General, and presiding at the provincial chapter of the Franciscan Province of St. Anthony in Portugal, decreed the founding of the custody, or minor-province, of St. Anthony in Brazil. He did this over the objections of some of the friars assisting at the chapter, who thought their numbers too small to think of founding a new mission.
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- Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1958
References
1 Early chroniclers, like Jaboatão, mention several attempts at early Franciscan missionizing. Fr.van der Vat, Odulfo O.F.M., in his Princípios da Igreja no Brasil (Petrópolis, 1952), pp. 185 Google Scholar ff., sifts these findings and corrects them. See also his article “The First Franciscans in Brazil,” THE AMERICAS, V (July, 1948), 18–30.
2 Concerning the founding of the custody, see Gonzaga, Francisco De origine Seraphicae Religionis (Roma, 1587), pp. 1359 Google Scholarff.; Manuel de Ilha, O.F.M., “Divi Antonii Brasiliae Custodiae enarratio seu relatio, numerique domorum et doctrinarum quae in ilia sunt, necnon aliarum rerum narrationis dignarum,” MS of 1621, fl. 301r.; de Santa María Jaboatão, Antônio O.F.M., Novo orbe seráfico brasílico (2 vols.; Rio de Janeiro, 1858–1859), 1, 124 Google Scholar f.; Romag, Dagoberto O.F.M., A história dos Franciscanos no Brasil, 1500–1651 (Curitiba, 1940), p. 32.Google Scholar
3 Gonzaga, op. cit., speaks of seven Franciscans, while others, including da Conceição, Apolinário O.F.M., in his Claustro Franciscano (Lisbon, 1740), p. 19,Google Scholar speaks of eight founding friars.
4 Jaboatão, op. cit., I, 382.
5 Ibid., p. 291; Augusto Francisco Pereira da Costa, Anais Fernambucanos (Recife, 1951), I, 545.
6 Jaboatão, op. cit., I, 201.
7 See Willeke, Venâncio “The mission of São Miguel de Una in Pernambuco, Brazil,” THE AMERICAS, XIII (July, 1956), 69–74.Google Scholar
8 Jaboatão, op. cit., I, 201; Manuel de Ilha, MS cit., fl. 274r-310r.
9 Jaboatão, op. cit., I, 172 ff. counts eighteen aldeias founded by the Franciscans during the term of Frei Melchior de Santa Catarina (1585–1594).
10 do Salvador, Vicente O.F.M., História do Brasil, 1500–1621 (3rd. ed.; São Paulo, 1931), p. 393.Google Scholar
11 Jaboatão, op. cit., I, 417f. and I, 167–171.
12 Manuel da Ilha, MS cit., fl. 271r&v.
13 Jaboatão, op. cit., I, 208–211. See also Kiemen, M.C. The Indian policy of Portugal in the Amazon region, 1614–1693 (Washington, 1954), pp. 18–21,Google Scholar where the pertinent archival sources are quoted.
14 Jaboatão, op. cit., I, 172.
15 Vicente do Salvador, op. cit., p. 393, says: “ Porque, como era tanto o gentío, além das aldeias em que residiam os frades tinham outras muitas de visita, e era necessário andarem sempre dois por elas, doutrinando-os e batizando os enfermos, que estavam in extremis, que foram mais de sete mil, fora as crianças e adultos catecúmenos, que foram quarenta e cinco mil, como consta dos livres dos balizados, enquanto os tivemos a nosso cargo. ” Notwithstanding this clear account, Pedro Calmon in his História do Brazil, I (São Paulo, 1939), p. 403, has the effrontery to state that the Franciscans entered Paraíba to “ missionize ” (the quotation marks are his) Indians already converted.
18 The date after each place-name signifies the date of foundation of the convent.
17 See the complete text in Jaboatão, op. cit., I, 420–422.
18 See Kiemen, op. cit., pp. 139–147, for the text and background of this law.
19 “ Founded ” signifies that the mission owes its origin to the Franciscans. “ Accepted ” means that the mission was taken over by the Franciscans but owes its origin to other religious orders.
20 “ Given up ” signifies that the Franciscans turned over the mission to the local Bishop or to another Order. “ Extinct ” means that the mission was either dissolved or elevated to the rank of a parish at the time the Franciscans left.
21 Sources for information on the first seven missions listed include Noticia geral de toda esta Capitania da Bahia, desde o seu descobrimento até o presente ano de 1759, by Caldas, José Antônio (facsimile edition; Bahia, 1951), pp. 60 Google Scholarf. and the manuscript entitled “ Recopilação de notícias soteropolitanas e brasílicas,” by Santos Vilhena, Luís dos which was used by de Abreu, Capistrano in his Capítulos de historia colonial (Rio de Janeiro, 1934), pp. 194 Google Scholar f.
22 The Franciscan missions were located in the following modern Brazilian states: Nos. 1: Sergipe, temporarily Bahia; 2–13: Bahia; 14: possibly southern Piauí; 15: Bahia; 16: Pernambuco, today Bahia; 17–24: Pernambuco; 25: Paraíba.
23 During the last century, the church in Jacobina installed another image of the Crucified under the invocation of Senhor do Bonfim; the primitive statue of Senhor Bom Jesús da Glória was placed in a side chapel.
24 In many documents one finds “ Brotas ” instead of “ Grotas.” The latter, however, is more common, and is still used today.
25 Rodelas was given over to the Italian Capuchins.
26 These missions spent only a year and a half under Franciscan administration—the customary time between a provincial chapter and “ congregation,” or minor chapter.
27 Massarandupió passed into the care of the Carmelites.
28 See note 26.
29 This is the year of the creation of the parish of Jeremoabo (Jaboatão, op. cit., II, 803).
30 See note 26.
31 See note 26.
32 This mission should not be confused with the Jesuit mission of the same name, situated between Sentosé and Malhadinhas.
33 See note 26.
34 See note 26.
35 The only reference to the mission of Catú is found in non-Franciscan documents, sc., Documentos Históricos, L V, 268.
36 The Indians missionized by the Franciscans pertained to the following tribes: Nos. 1 and 7: Tupinambá; 2, 5, 10, 24, 25: Cariri; 3: Paiaiá; 4: Porcá; 6: Rodela; 11: Guaimoré; 19–23: Tapuia. Each aldeia of Indians received the right to a square league (36 square kilometers) of land, if it included at least 100 families. Massarandupió possessed six square leagues and Una, temporarily, four. When the missions were flourishing, each one had about 200 families of Indians, as a general rule.
37 Dias, Eduardo “Para a história dos Avilas da Bahia,” in Anais do primetro Congresso de História da Bahia, 2 (Bahia: Instituto Histórico da Bahia, 1950), 385.Google Scholar
38 Costa, Afonso “História da Jacobina,” in Jornal do Comércio [Rio de Janeiro], August 31, 1952.Google Scholar
39 Jaboatão, op. cit., II, 803.
40 Os Sertões (15th ed.; Rio de Janeiro, 1940), pp. 101, 103 f.
41 O Cinquentenário da Prelazia de Santarém, 1903–1953 (Santarém, 1953), pp. 28–30.