The lazarists and Church reform during the Second Reign: politics and autonomy

Abstract

The religious institute of the Lazarists was the one with the greatest organization and reach in Brazil in the 19th century. They arrived in the Empire in 1819 and spread during the century throughout several dioceses, participating in the reforms that were in line with the ultramontane proposal of the Roman Church of the 19th century. On the other hand, we identified that the imperial government also envisioned a reform of relations between state and Church, reaffirming, however, regalism. The idea was to work with religious institutes that accepted this state supremacy in Church business. The fact is that the Lazarists did not have this affinity with the regalist proposal, but entered the Empire through work performed for monarchies, as occurred in France and even in Portugal. The question we sought to answer seeks to understand this relationship between state and Church based on the actions of the Lazarists. If, on the one hand, the order did not share the regalist proposal, on the other hand, it would also not be articulated with the political practices identified in other religious orders and, in a way, it was not of interest to the reformist proposal that was sought to be made from the political field.