Homem de Deus ao serviço da Coroa: As dimensões espiritual e temporal das visitas pastorais de D. Frei João de São José Queirós no bispado do Grão-Pará (1759-1763)
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Data
2018-12-20
Autores
Saranholi, Hugo Fernando Costa
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Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)
Resumo
D. Frei João de São José Queirós foi nomeado bispo do Grão-Pará em 1759. A formação culta do clérigo, suas posições políticas e sua ojeriza aos jesuítas parecem fazer dele a pessoa mais alinhada aos anseios da Coroa para ocupar o cargo, num momento onde tais posicionamentos eram estimados pelas autoridades portuguesas. O Estado do Grão-Pará vinha ganhando importância na política do Império Ultramarino e a escolha de pessoas de confiança que respondessem às expectativas de governabilidade do Reino nas terras dos trópicos era condição mister de efetivação da autoridade régia na colonização da Amazônia portuguesa. Chegando ao Brasil, o bispo se deparou com um território de proporções alargadas, uma gente desolada e uma malha administrativa ainda incipiente. Ao realizar suas duas visitas pastorais entre o período de 1760 e 1763, o bispo deixou relatos que nos permitirão perscrutar assuntos relevantes da época, como o trato com o indígena e com o colono, o reconhecimento territorial e a relação com os homens de prestígio. Portanto, nossa suposição é a de que sua atuação episcopal partiu de dois direcionamentos que se conjugam e se complementam: um aspecto espiritual, regido pelas Constituições Primeiras do Arcebispado da Bahia e por manuais de visitas pastorais, segundo o qual o bispo era um de pastor de ovelhas que deveria cuidar do seu rebanho através dos sacramentos e da pregação; e um aspecto temporal, expressado nas cartas, autos, ofícios, pareceres, acordos, decretos régios e outros tipos de correspondências manuscritas trocadas entre a Metrópole e o Governo do Estado do Grão-Pará, segundo o qual o bispo era um funcionário do Rei, que deveria fiscalizar sua jurisdição e moderar os vícios que ferem o Império.
D. Friar João de São José Queirós was nominated Bishop of Grão Pará in 1759. His erudite backgrounds, his political opinions and his aversion against the jesuitics seem to make him the most appropriate person according the Crown to hold this position, in a moment when these opinions were appreciated by the Portuguese authorities. The Grão-Pará State were growing in importance in the Seaborne Empire and choosing people of trust who would answer to the kingdom's expectations of governability were a very important condition to attain unto regal authority in the Portuguese Amazon. When he arrived in there, the Bishop faced a large territory, with desolated people and a still incipient administrative net. Making two pastoral travels between 1760 and 1763, he wrote reports which will allow us to understand relevant matters to that time, such as the treatment given to the Indians and to the peasants, the territorial identification and the relations with the men of reputation. Therefore, our assumption is that his episcopal procedure followed two directions that conjugate and combine themselves: a spiritual aspect, led by the First Constitution of the Archbishopric of Bahia and by pastoral travels guides, according to which the bishop were a sheep keeper who had to take care of his flock through the sacraments and the exhortation; and a temporal aspect, expressed in official manuscripted letters exchanged by the Metropolis and the Government of the Grão-Pará State, according to which the bishop were a King's agent, who should supervise his jurisdiction and moderate the flaws that damage the Empire.
D. Friar João de São José Queirós was nominated Bishop of Grão Pará in 1759. His erudite backgrounds, his political opinions and his aversion against the jesuitics seem to make him the most appropriate person according the Crown to hold this position, in a moment when these opinions were appreciated by the Portuguese authorities. The Grão-Pará State were growing in importance in the Seaborne Empire and choosing people of trust who would answer to the kingdom's expectations of governability were a very important condition to attain unto regal authority in the Portuguese Amazon. When he arrived in there, the Bishop faced a large territory, with desolated people and a still incipient administrative net. Making two pastoral travels between 1760 and 1763, he wrote reports which will allow us to understand relevant matters to that time, such as the treatment given to the Indians and to the peasants, the territorial identification and the relations with the men of reputation. Therefore, our assumption is that his episcopal procedure followed two directions that conjugate and combine themselves: a spiritual aspect, led by the First Constitution of the Archbishopric of Bahia and by pastoral travels guides, according to which the bishop were a sheep keeper who had to take care of his flock through the sacraments and the exhortation; and a temporal aspect, expressed in official manuscripted letters exchanged by the Metropolis and the Government of the Grão-Pará State, according to which the bishop were a King's agent, who should supervise his jurisdiction and moderate the flaws that damage the Empire.
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Período pombalino, Amazônia portuguesa, Igreja portuguesa, Estado português, Pombaline Period, Portuguese Amazon, Portuguese Church, Portuguese State