Mulheres, vida religiosa e poderes locais: disputas em torno da fundação do Convento de Santa Teresa (Rio de Janeiro, 1742-1782)

Abstract

This dissertation aims to analyze the cloistered feminine life in the colonial society of the second half of the eighteenth century (1742-1782), from the exceptionality of the community founded by Jacinta Rodrigues Aires (who became known as Jacinta de São José), an institution focused on religious life, but it worked almost forty years without the canonical confirmation of a convent. The time frame ranges from the young woman's departure from her family's home to the canonical confirmation of Retirement as a Convent of the Reformed Rule of Santa Teresa. Throughout this investigation, we propose to reconstitute the group of the first Retired, how these women became subjects of that space, took simple vows and fought for the founding of the first Discalced Carmelite Convent in Portuguese America. Moreover, in the context of the main events, contextualize the networks of solidarity and sociability, religious and spiritual cronyism, friendships and kinships that favored the strengthening and its institutionalization, as well as the opposition imposed by the ecclesiastical authorities to the founding of an ascetic institution – hermit and cenobite