Peregrinos, missionários e Protestantismo: o caso de Robert Reid Kalley

Abstract

This paper analyzes the changes that occurred in the social-political and religious panorama of the Brazil Empire, in the period between 1855-1876, from the activities of the Scottish doctor and missionary, Robert Reid Kalley (1809-1888) in Brazil. The emphasis of this research revolves around the attempt of exercising Protestant religious practice in the Portuguese language and the resistance formed in the political-religious scope against such a right in a Roman Catholic country. The research also focuses on Kalley‘s stay and activities in the Island of Madeira (1838-1846), which came to be the stage between Catholic and Protestant ideologies, culminating with the exodus and persecution of thousands of people, Kalley being the main target. Then, the sermons in Portuguese and the medical care that he accomplished in Madeira arrives in Brazil in 1855. This research also reveals specific Kalleyan methodology, how he worked independently of any church or missionary organization, even financially, unlike other missionaries at the time, although exercising the same practices of those. This examination of Protestantism informs and discloses the process that culminated with the acquisition of the civil right to registry (birth, marriage and death) by non-Catholics, citizens who did not practice the Common Religion. This paper also examines, the reaction of Kalley's Protestant speech, and reveals details of the resistance of the Catholic Church to allow freedom of worship along with the attempts to discredit the d Protestant practice and ideology. The survey also covers the discussions brought about by the Protestant mission in the Brazilian society, without forgetting to co-relate the factors going on within the Catholic Church who faced various difficulties, such as discussions about the republic, the abolitionist propaganda, foreign immigration, the patronage and the religious question, among other things, episodes that were essential to understanding the role of Robert Reid Kalley and of other missionaries who came after him.