Uma história dos recolhimentos na Bahia: o recolhimento dos perdões (1729-1820)

Abstract

In 1729, in the parish of Santo Antônio Além do Carmo, in Salvador, the foundation of the Recolhimento do Senhor Bom Jesus dos Perdões began through the efforts of women, devotees, and episcopal action. Placed under diocesan jurisdiction — at the time, that of Archbishop Dom Luiz Álvares de Figueiredo (1725–1735) — this recolhimento (a house of retreat) received its first statutes in 1732. From the beginning, the women of the Recolhimento dos Perdões harbored the desire to become professed nuns, but the transition to conventual status was never granted, laying the groundwork for a jurisdictional conflict that would arise two centuries later. At stake was the administrative control of the institution, with the central debate revolving around the definition of jurisdictional boundaries between the domains of the Church and the State. The dispute played out in the courts of Bahia between 1936 and 1942, the year it was taken to the Supreme Federal court and settled by the arbitration of then President Getúlio Vargas. This episode, dubbed by the Bahian press as the Episódio dos Perdões or Caso dos Perdões due to the scandal that marked its unfolding, was followed by a period of decline for the institution. Its original purpose was distorted, and it came to bear a stain that would mark the twilight of its activities. This thesis presents a history of the Recolhimento do Senhor Bom Jesus dos Perdões, constructed through a study of its legal status and institutional condition. In the early 18th century, Salvador was marked by the significant establishment of houses of seclusion for women and the strengthening of the diocesan structure, in line with the royal interests of Portuguese colonization, following the decrees of the Council of Trent (1545–1563) and under the auspices of the royal patronage. Convents and recolhimentos for women founded overseas ultimately shared characteristics that did not substantially distinguish them. The objective of this thesis is to understand the historical trajectory of an institution whose functioning heavily depended on the relationship between the State and the Church, embodied in its diocesan prelates. At the same time, it highlights the convergences between the processes of establishing convents and recolhimentos in colonial Salvador, which placed them in a zone of mixed jurisdiction. Underlying these discussions, giving them meaning, is a memory of the Recolhimento dos Perdões as a framework for constructing its history.