O caminho da misericórdia para o Brasil: uma construção pela via da memória e da história da educação

Abstract

This research retraces the path that led the Italian congregation of the Daughters of Our Lady of Mercy (FdM) to enter the field of education in Brazil. To this end, it analyzes the origin and trajectory of the congregation - focusing on the figure of its foundress, Mother Josefa Rossello - the process of expansion through immigration and the founding of Catholic schools in Argentina (1837-1875) and its arrival and establishment in Brazil, with the founding of Colégio Nossa Senhora da Misericórdia (CNSM) in the Andaraí district (1926-1948). We used as sources: biographies on Mother Rossello, a book of letters from the nun to the Sisters in America and periodicals from the Digital Library of the National Library (BN). The work focused on trying to access aspects of the past indirectly, based on clues, filling in the gaps with what the sources made possible (Ginzburg, 1990) in order to construct a certain reading of this past. Education appears to be the guiding thread of the path taken by the FdM to Brazil and the institution's charism of putting the heart to God, the hands to work, forming in and for Mercy gave substance to its actions, built the memory of the congregation and forged the identity of the Sisters, which enabled their insertion into the game of social relations and Brazilian education.