The pastoral action of Portuguese bishops in the late 15th and early 16th centuries

• Grant number: 22/03666-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2022
• End date: July 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Ancient and Medieval History
• Principal Investigator: Leandro Alves Teodoro
• Grantee: Diovani Matheus Marques
• Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 17/11111-9 - The teaching of the Christian faith in the Iberian Peninsula (14th, 15th and 16 centuries), AP.JP

Abstract

Between the middle of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century, in a context of strengthening catechetical policies in different dioceses of Portugal, the bishops of Braga and Porto produced important pastoral works that aimed to correct the behavior of the faithful and create parameters of conduct. Among the different works produced, the production and dissemination of synodal constitutions in the north of Portugal stood out, with great emphasis on those promulgated by D. Luís Pires and D. Diogo de Sousa, in which they not only denounced practices labeled as sinful, but they also cataloged devotional exercises that clergy and lay people had to know in order to reproduce them in everyday life. Starting from the constitutions of D. Luís Pires (1477), of D. Diogo de Sousa, promulgated in Porto (1496) and also in Braga (1505), as well as a spiritual guide annexed to the Porto constitutions of 1496, entitled Sumário Breve, the objective of this research will be to analyze the space reserved for the lives of lay people in these productions. More precisely, the aim of the present research will be to map the criticisms directed by these two prelates to the laity. In addition, this research will also examine the role attributed to the devotional exercises present in this documentary corpus, such as sacraments and works of mercy, for the spiritual formation of lay people.(AU)