Revista Brasileira de História das Religiões

The conservative legacy of Bishop Antônio de Castro Mayer: a historical perspective

Vinícius Couzzi Mérida — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0300

Dom Antônio de Castro Mayer was one of the most prominent figures of Brazilian Catholic conservatism
in the 20th century. His career, analyzed through historical bibliographic documentary research, reveals a priest deeply committed to preserving an anti-modern and anti-ecumenical vision of the Church, aligned with the paradigms defined by the Councils of Trent and Vatican I. During the Second Vatican Council, Castro Mayer positioned himself as a firm opponent of the conciliar reforms, becoming one of the leaders of the conservative resistance. Unlike the majority of Brazilian dioceses, the diocese of Campos did not readily incorporate the conciliar changes, remaining a unique ecclesiological reality in the world context. The process of receiving the conciliar reforms in the Church of Campos only began after Castro Mayer’s departure in November 1981. From then on, internal conflicts, exonerations and replacements of parish priests intensified, culminating in 1988, when Castro Mayer took part in the episcopal consecrations carried out without an apostolic mandate. This act, led by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, symbolized his adherence to the anti-conciliar struggle and marked a significant institutional rupture in the name of preserving the pre-conciliar model, which he called the “Church of Always”. This article, through historical documentary research, examines Castro Mayer’s legacy in the diocese of Campos dos Goytacazes, highlighting how his intransigent stance resulted in a unique experience in the history of the Church, characterized by a doctrinal and institutional resistance that continues to echo in the debate on the impact of the Second Vatican Council.

“I did not come to bring peace, but a sword”: evangelical identity, public morality, and disputes over fundamentalism in Brazil

Carlos Henrique Pereira de Souza — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0300

This article analyzes the construction of evangelical identity in contemporary Brazil, focusing on disputes surrounding public morality and the use of the term “fundamentalism” to describe certain segments of the
evangelical field. It argues that such categorization is often simplistic, overlooking the internal diversity and confessional conflicts that permeate the movement. The analysis draws on theoretical frameworks from the sociology of religion and post-structuralist discourse analysis, articulating empirical data, visual records, and narratives produced in evangelical environments and media. The article also discusses symbolic differentiation strategies in relation to the “world,” the growing political participation of evangelicals, and the role of the media in reshaping the boundaries between religion, culture, and politics.

Souza Marques and the Brazilian Baptists: The Rise of an (Un)suitable Spokesperson between 1910-1930

João B. Chaves, Álvaro Ramon Ramos Oliveira — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0300

Born in 1894 on Morro do São Carlos, Souza Marques was a descendant of a formerly enslaved family with roots in the Parish of São João Batista do Arrozal, in the Fluminense Paraíba Valley. His conversion at the age of 17 at the First Baptist Church of Rio de Janeiro marked the beginning of a multifaceted life. After graduating from the South Brazil Baptist Theological Seminary in 1922, Souza Marques distinguished himself as a religious minister, founding several churches in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. His work, however, extended beyond the ecclesiastical sphere. He was also an educator (teaching in the public school system of the former Federal District and founding Colégio and Faculdades Souza Marques) and a politician (founding the Democratic Republican Party in 1945 and being elected state deputy for the PTB in 1960). To develop this article, we conducted an evidentiary investigation of this historical figure through newspapers, minutes from Baptist conventions, and reports from American missionary organizations between 1910 and 1930—a crucial period for his establishment as a prominent institutional figure within the Brazilian Baptist denomination. Additionally, we apply Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of “symbolic field,” “biographical illusion,” and “acts of investiture” to analyze José de Souza Marques’s social ascent among Baptists during Brazil’s First Republic. In doing so, we seek to explore possible connections between “Baptist faith” and “race” in the post-abolition Brazilian context.

Non-institutional aspects of Japanese religions in Brazil before the 1950s: reconsidering the “Maeyama paradigm”

Richard Gonçalves André, Rafael Shoji — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0300

In the academic production on Japanese religions and religiosities in Brazil, one of the main research approaches stems from the propositions of Japanese anthropologist Takashi Maeyama, eventually becoming the primary framework for interpreting the phenomenon. What we call the “Maeyama paradigm” posits that Japanese immigrants and their descendants in Brazil did not engage in institutional religious practices until around the 1950s. This article aims to analyze this paradigm, highlighting its assumptions and implications as a guiding model for subsequent studies, including from an epistemological standpoint. From a methodological perspective, bibliographic research was conducted, focusing both on Maeyama’s works and later investigations, using the concept of place of production, as proposed by Michel de Certeau, to think about the insertion of the academic discourse of the Japanese anthropologist. From a theoretical point of view, the concept or paradigm was mobilized, according to Thomas Kuhn. In the discussion, we suggest that although the paradigm is significant, it can be questioned in light of themes such as ancestor worship and its relation to cemeteries, as well as manifestations of Shinto in Brazil.

Emotions and Mental Health: A reading of 20th-Century adventist authors

Karina Kosicki Bellotti, Breno Martins Campos — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0300

Our article starts from two observations, which are also theoretical and empirical assumptions: (1) for some time now, the mental and emotional health of individuals has been a global concern (and Brazil is no different); (2) in addition to states and other public health organizations, religious communities of various beliefs, models of faith, and practices are also concerned with the matter. As a hypothesis, we understand that the Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA), for over a century, has stood out among other Christian churches regarding the mental, emotional, and physical health of its members and others under its influence, even non-Adventists. To avoid an obvious path—namely, another reading of the texts by the prophetess Ellen G. White, which can be considered foundational to the SDA—we opted to analyze two 20th-century Adventist authors concerned with mental and emotional health: Humberto O. Swartout and Marcelo I. Fayard. Through documentary (sources) and bibliographic
(commentaries) research, our methodology is based on both the history of emotions and the sociology of religious emotions. Among the results achieved, we highlight that Adventist books on mental and emotional health have always aimed to reach the internal Adventist community but to serve as a calling card for non-Adventists in each nation, primarily through colportage (book ministry).

Jesus, O Mago: um olhar (ainda) negligenciado sobre Jesus de Nazaré

Daniel Soares Veiga — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0300

Resenha:

CHEVITARESE, André Leonardo; JUSTI, Daniel Brasil. Jesus, O Mago: um olhar (ainda) negligenciado sobre Jesus de Nazaré. 1. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Menocchio, 2024. 103 p.

Jesus e seus seguidores envolveram-se com práticas de magia e fizeram de tais práticas o elemento central do cristianismo originário. No entanto, com o tempo, a constatação de que Jesus e as primeiras gerações de cristãos praticaram magia criou um embaraço para as autoridades religiosas, que buscaram a todo custo suprimir este aspecto do cristianismo.

The Daughters of Mary: agents of transnational history in the 19th century

Ana Cristina Pereira Lage, Thais Nívia de Lima e Fonseca — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0300

Starting from brief reflections on the connected and transnational approaches in contemporany historiography and their relevance for the study of the movements of religious institutions in space and time, especially since the 16th century, this article deals with the cult of Our Lady of Grace, the Miraculous Medal and its relationship with Daughters of Mary, considered to be the bast students of the Daughters of Charitt of Saint Vincent de Paul in the 19th century. Mary appeared three times to the French novice Catherine Labouré from 1830 onwards and presented the model of the Miraculous Medal, which was to be distributed among her “daughters” of all nation. Thus came into being the Daughters of Mary, considered to be those most capable of multiplying the Catholic discourse and expanding it universally in female educational institutions. We intend to analyse the transnational movement of the Daughters of Mary on the festivities of the cult of the Miraculous Medal, instituted in 1894.

“Mary Leads the Way”: female mystical leadership and marian apparitions in the political context of nineteenth-century Europe

Robson Rodrigues Gomes Filho — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0300

The rise of feminist movements coincided with the strategic use of Marian devotion to shape women’s
social roles, while Catholic Romanticism of the period actively encouraged mystical religious experiences. In this context, countries such as Germany, Italy, and France witnessed a significant increase in cases involving female mystics and visionaries. However, the Catholic Church’s differing responses—encouraging the passivity of female visionaries in relation to Marian apparitions while restraining female mystical leadership—reveal the ambiguous ways in which women, the Virgin, and female mysticism were instrumentalized in support of the Church’s strategies for survival in modernity. This article investigates the relationship between the political and religious revival
of the Catholic Church in nineteenth-century Europe and the notable increase in reports of Marian apparitions and female stigmata mysticism during the same period. The study relies on both qualitative and quantitative analyses of reported cases, along with a critical review of the historiography on the subject.

“This Crown will achieve the conversion of many sinners”: the creation of a visionary culture in Campinas through sisters Amália de Jesus Flagelado and Benedetta Mello (1928–1937)

Carlos André Silva de Moura — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0300

The first decades of the 20th century were marked by various Marian events, with visions that transformed Catholic devotions in the Western world. Based on the perspectives of Cultural History, we analyze the events surrounding the visions in the city of Campinas, in the countryside of São Paulo state (Brazil), beginning in 1928, with accounts led by Sisters Amália de Jesus Flagelado and Benedetta Mello. For our discussions, we draw on pontifical documents, press materials, the Congregation of the Missionaries of Jesus Crucified, the Archivio Apostolico Vaticano, and the UNICAMP Memory Center. The investigation revealed how the events were organized by members of the Catholic Church, constituting an important framework for discussions about visions of Jesus Christ and Our Lady, fundamental to religious disputes with Protestants in the first half of the 20th century. Likewise, the forms of silencing established by the Roman Curia as a way of organizing devotions during the period under investigation were observed.

“The Saint of Campinas”: sister Amalia of Jesus Flagellated and the visionary experience in Brazil

Magno Francisco de Jesus Santos — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0300

This article focuses on the debates surrounding the Marian visions of Sister Amália of Jesus Flagellated in the city of Campinas in the late 1920s, involving scientists and religious leaders from different faiths. A member of the Institute of the Missionaries of Jesus Crucified, from 1928 onwards, the nun began to experience mystical experiences that were associated with ecstasies, which resulted in the appearance of stigmata. In addition, the nun also claimed to have conversations with Jesus in chains and with Our Lady of Tears. This experience became a media phenomenon, with reports published in the press, in addition to books written by doctors discussing the nature of the episodes. Thus, these documentary records allow us to reflect on the controversies surrounding the image of the nun, as well as the different interests in the uses of this experience in the Brazilian religious and scientific fields.

The Pilgrimage of Nuestra Señora del Cisne in the lower Andes of Ecuador

Cesar Miguel Salinas Ramos — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0300

This article begins by outlining the historical and theoretical context in which the current research is developed. Second, it presents the methodology, a multi-sited and experimental ethnography. Third, it critically traces the origins of Nuestra Señora del Cisne (NSC). Fourth, it analyzes the 2022 Pilgrimage as the main rite surrounding NSC. Fifth, it analyzes the 2022 Integration Festival as another pilgrimage, an alternative to the hegemonic one. And sixth, as results and conclusion, it understands the construction of social subjectivity in the interaction between Feelings, Practices, Thoughts (SentisPraxisPensares); and it also sheds light on the transcendental role of NSC in this process.

Marian Cult in Angola: Our Lady of the Conception of Muxima or Mamã Muxima

Giselda Brito Silva, Constança Ceita, Yuri Agostinho — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0300

In this work, we will explore the popular construction of the cult and devotion to Our Lady of the Conception of Muxima, or “Mamã Muxima,” as she is known by the local population, whose church is currently located in the village of Muxima, in the municipality of Kissama, Angola. As we will attempt to explain, based on reports and writings, for many centuries the church and the image of the Saint were largely neglected, maintained precariously by the local population, who were also responsible for creating myths surrounding the Saint. With the increase in the number of manifestations, pilgrimages, and devotions, evidenced by thousands of letters at the feet of the Saint, the local ecclesiastical authority legitimized Marian worship in the Church. Today, the “Sanctuary of Mamã Muxima” is a site of annual pilgrimage, receiving thousands of Catholic faithful from Angola and other nations, attracting the attention of Angolan political power. The cult of the Saint attracted so much attention from authorities that, in 2022, the State and the Catholic Church joined forces to lay the foundation stone for the Basilica of Our Lady of the Conception of Vila da Muxima, currently considered the most venerated and popular patron saint in Angola and throughout Africa. The event is little known in the history of religion in Brazil. Therefore, one of the central objectives of this work is to highlight the specificity of Marian worship in Angola, focusing on the power of
oral tradition in the propagation of Catholic worship.

Visões, aparições e cultos marianos no período contemporâneo

Carlos André Silva de Moura, Verónica Roldán — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0300

As investigações em torno das visões, aparições e devoções marianas têm sido realizadas por profissionais das diferentes áreas do conhecimento. Desde os relatos sobre Lourdes, na França a partir de 1858, os eventos passaram a atender uma lógica com mensagens apocalípticas, a relação do político com o religioso, o protagonismo de crianças e o fortalecimento de projetos que tinham o objetivo de aprimorar as propostas da Igreja Católica e colaborar com a formação de uma neocristandade.