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Some Protestant Missionary Letters Relating to the Religious Question in Brazil: 1872–1875
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
Extract
The above-quoted letter, along with a score of other letters from the Reverend A. L. Blackford, as well as from other Presbyterian missionaries in Brazil, throw a new light on the so-called Religious Question of the 1870's.
The Religious Question or Masonic Question, as all students of Brazilian history well know, was the incident which began in December of 1872, when Bishop Dom Frei Vital M. Gonçalves de Oliveira, of the Diocese of Olinda, Pernambuco (who later on was joined by Bishop Dom Antonio de Macedo Costa, of the Diocese of Pará), ordered all Catholics who were Masons to be expelled from the Catholic fraternal organizations known as confrarias. The confrarias, which were dominated by Masonic elements, refused to expel the Masons from their midst. The Bishop, in return, interdicted all of the recalcitrant confrarias and their churches in the Diocese. The confrarias appealed to the Crown demanding that the Bishop be restrained by the Imperial Power of Patronage, as under the law of the land—as interpreted by the Crown—the Bishop was not entitled to take such a measure. The Papal Encyclicals, which the Bishop was using as his guide, had never been approved by the Crown and as such, were not legally enforceable in Brazil. The Imperial Patronage of the Church, which had been inherited from the Portuguese kings, was very jealously guarded by the Emperor.
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- Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1968
References
1 Letter No. 245 from Blackford, A.L., Janeiro, Rio de, April 24, 1872. From the Records of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. (correspondence Brazil-Colombia: 1868-1875), hereinafter cited as R.B.F.M.P.C.Google Scholar
2 For a good study in English of the literature of this field, see Stein, Stanley, “The Historiography of Brazil: 1808–1889,” The Hispanic American Historical Review, XL (May, 1960), 270–273 Google Scholar.
3 For many years the Catholic newspapers had been saying that all attacks on the Church in Brazil were Protestant-inspired and Protestant-led. See A Ordem, Jan. 31, 1865; A Esperança, Jan. 28, 1865, Feb. 11, 1865, March 18, 1865 and April 29, 1865; also O Vinte e Cinco de Março, Nov. 22, 1866; O Apóstolo, Jan. 8, 1871. This awareness of the Church, of what some Catholic writers have called a world-wide conspiracy, is acknowledged by many writers of the Dom Vital affair. See de Vacaria, Frei Artur, Dom Vital (Caxias do Sul, R.G. Sul: Editora São Miguel, 1947), pp. 30–31 Google Scholar.
4 Protestant rejoicing over the fall of Rome and their newly-found freedom of access to Rome was quite great. See among others, The Missionary (Columbia, S. C), Jan.. 1871 and April 1871Google Scholar.
5 Diário de Pernambuco, Dec. 13, 1865; also, O Vinte e Cinco de Março, Nov. 22, 1866. The examples here would run into hundreds.)
6 Walsh, R., Notices of Brazil (2 vols.; London: Westley, 1830), I, 323 Google Scholar.
7 Among the Masonic writers, Arci Tenório de Albuquerque has written most prolifically on this subject, as witness his works: A Maçonaria e a Inconfidência Mineira (Rio de Janeiro: Ed. Espiritualista, 1958)Google Scholar; A Maçonaria e a Independência do Brasil (Rio de Janeiro: Ed. Espiritualista, 1958)Google Scholar; A Maçonaria e a Independência do Brasil (Rio de Janeiro: Ed. Espiritualista, 1959)Google Scholar. One also could mention, among others, Lira, Jorge Buarque, A Maçonaria e a Politica no Brasil (Rio de Janeiro: Gráfica Editora Aurora, 1952)Google Scholar, as well as Pinto, Teixeira, A Maçonaria na Independência do Brasil (Rio de Janeiro: E. Salogan, 1961)Google Scholar.
8 Freyre, Gilberto, Ingleses no Brasil (Rio de Janeiro: Livraria José Olímpio Editora, 1948), p. 60 Google Scholar.
9 Ibid., p. 113.
10 Blake, Augusto Vitoriano Sacramento, Diccionario Bibliográfico Brasileiro (8 vols.; Rio de Janeiro: Imprensa Nacional, 1895), III, 197–198 Google Scholar.
11 Santos, Luis Gonçalves dos, O Catholico e o Mcthodista (Rio de Janeiro: Imprensa Americana, 1839), p. 173 Google Scholar.
12 Ibid., p. 174.
13 Landes, Phillip S., Ashbel Green Simonton (Fort Worth, Texas: Don Cowan Co., 1956), pp. 24–26 Google Scholar.
14 Leonard, Emile—Guillaume, O Protestantismo Brasileiro (São Paulo: ASTE (1963), pp. 50–51 Google Scholar.
15 Leonard, op. cit., p. 51.
16 The best translation of this work in Portuguese appeared in 187S in Rio de Janeiro and supplanted other translations; it was the work of Dr. Miguel Vieira Ferreira, one of Dr. Kalley’s converts. See his biographical data in Sacramento Blake’s Diccionário Bibliográfico, VI, 296–299 Google Scholar.
17 O Novo Mundo [New York], Nov. 24, 1873. This newspaper was widely distributed in Brazil and had a great influence among the liberals.
18 Santos, Luiz Gonçalves dos, Antídoto Salutífero (Rio de Janeiro: Imprensa Nacional, 1825), passimGoogle Scholar.
19 Blackford’s letter of May 8th, 1863. R. B. F. M. P. C., No. 75.
20 Rocha, João Gomes da, Lembranças do Passado (4 vols.; Rio de Janeiro: Centro Brasileiro de Publicidade, 1946), I, 99–111 Google Scholar.
21 Ferreira, Júlio Andrade, História da Igreja Presbiteriana no Brasil (2 vols.; São Paulo: Casa Editora Presbiteriana, 1959), I, 36 Google Scholar.
22 Blackford’s letter of December 25, 1871. R. B. F. M. P. C, No. 216.
23 Most cases of mob action, as told and documented by Dr. Paulo Tarsier in his three-volume work, were led by members of the clergy. However, at times the leaders seemed to be a sacristan or, less often, more fanatical members of religious brother hoods. See Tarsier, Dr.Paulo, História das Perseguições Religiosas no Brasil (3 vols.; São Paulo: Cultura Religiosa, 1936), passimGoogle Scholar.
24 Leonard, op. cit., pp. 119–120. Other Protestant authors, however, are quite bitter about these persecutions and see behind them the hand of the hierarchy. See Tarsier, op. cit., passim.
25 Landes, op. cit., pp. 31–33.
26 These letters can be found in many newspapers of the day, such as: Diário de Pernambuco, November 29, 1865; December 7, 1865; December 30, 1865; also O Oito de Dezembro, October 22, 1865 and O Vinte e Cinco de Março, November 22, 1866.
27 Letter of Smith, J. Rockwell, The Missionary (Columbia, S. Carolina, May, 1873)Google Scholar.
28 Letter of R. Mclllwaine to J. Rockwell Smith, August 11, 1873. The J. Rockwell Smith Papers, The Library, Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia. This material has only recently been acquired and is still unclassified.
29 Leonard, op. cit., p. 95.
30 Ibid., pp. 95–96.
31 Ferreira, op. cit., p. 36.
32 Robert Leonard Mclntire, “Portrait of half a Century-Fifty Years of Protestantism in Brazil.” Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Princeton Theological Seminary, 1954.
33 Reforma [Rio de Janeiro], May 28, 1869.
34 Blackfor’s letter of April 24, 1872. R.B.F.M.P.C. No. 245.
35 Blackfor’s letter of October 24, 1871, R.B.F.M.P.C., No. 203.
36 This incident, which took place in the Convent of Nossa Senhora d’Ajuda in Rio de Janeiro, was widely debated by the press. The newspaper O Apóstolo, the semiofficial spokesman for the Church, took up the defense of Bishop Dom Pedro Maria de Lacerda’s action by a series of articles written by Father João Manoel (last name unknown) and Canon Xavier Pinheiro, in the issues dated November 5, November 12, November 19, November 26 and December 10, 1871. Both writers took pains to explain the aspect of Canon Law that regulated cloister rules, and insisted that the Bishop himself would have been guilty of breaking the Canon Law had he allowed the mother to visit her dying daughter. The phrase “Dura lex, sed lex” was repeated constantly as an explanation of why the Canon Law had been so strictly enforced in that case.
37 Blackford’s letter of May 25, 1872. R.B.F.M.P.C. No. 250.
38 A Verdade [Recife, Pernambuco], November 9, 1872.
39 Blackfor’s letter of April 24, 1873. R. B. F. M. P. C. No. 298.
40 To the Moderator & Brethren of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States. Rio de Janeiro, January 7, 1874. R.B.F.M.P.C. No. 347.
41 A Verdade [Recife, Pernambuco], July 3, 1873.
42 Rodrigues, J. C., Constituição, Política do Imperio do Brasil (Rio de Janeiro: Editora L. &H. Laemmert, 1863), pp. 222–223 Google Scholar.