Dom Tomás da Encarnação Costa e Lima: perfil de um prelado pombalino (1723-1774)

Abstract

This master’s thesis aims to discuss, through the trajectory and episcopal action of the10th bishop of Pernambuco, D. Tomás da Encarnação Costa e Lima, the profile of theappointed diocesan bishops during the period designated by the historians as “pombalino”,which coincides with the twenty-seven years of the reign of D. Joseph I, from 1750 to 1777,and the ministerial action of Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, count of Oeiras and marquisof Pombal. The impacts of the “pombalinas” reforms, which were of “regalista” nature, withinthe Church in Portugal were lasting. The term means that the reforms intended to submit allthe Church’s temporal power to the domain of the State, which was intended to centralization,and this was attended by a large number of agents and mechanisms that ensured the success ofthe pombaline project. The bishops, with its mixed character of men of the church and men ofthe state, were an essential contribution in this process, both in terms of the theoreticaldefense of the “regalismo pombalino”, and also regarding the practical execution of thereforms.