Evangelizar, negociar e educar: estratégias de consagração de uma congregação católica francesa na educação

Abstract

The goal of this study is to map and reflect upon the entry processes of the Blues Sisters’ into Latin America, more precisely in Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay (1904-1939). I argue that the establishment of the Congregation in Latin America was intrinsically linked to its romanization and was constituted, primarily, as a political strategy by the Catholic Church. From the second half of the 19th century, in Europe, especially in countries such as France and Italy, the Church began suffering an avalanche of criticisms, persecution, and restriction from acting in strategic areas such as education. One of the continents that were seen as promising was America, although some countries, especially in Latin America, were going through a period of changes that culminated in the loss of a few privileges that the Catholic Church benefitted from since colonization. Faced with this situation, the Holy See attempted to reattain its hegemony (or at least part of it) it had been losing gradually. Events were organized, some of them gathering a large part of the ecclesiastic body, encyclical letters were published, and a new policy was launched, to develop strategies to confront anticlerical philosophies and doctrines. One of them was promoting the entry of orders and catholic congregations, especially the female ones, whose main goal was occupying various fronts of action, as well as keeping the Church in the majority of the territory of these countries. Among the many congregations that established themselves in Latin America, as another cog in this machine, was the Blues Sisters’ Congregation. Regarding the sources used in constructing this thesis, are the books of memories, missives, circulars, hagiographies, among others, a great part of which were made by the Blues Sisters. Official documents from the Catholic Church were also utilized, such as: encyclical letters and the Minutes of the Latin American Council. These sources, as well as the bibliography created about the subjects studied herein, were of great importance for the research.