Signs of time. Anti- jesuitical experiences in Rio Grande do Sul and Bahia (Brazil) in the first decades of the 20th century.

Abstract

The Jesuits were expelled from many places of the world in the 18th century due to many different factors. Marquis of Pombal was the main character, without a doubt, in the anti-Jesuitical struggle and in the extinction of this order as one of the western powers of the period. Pombal, who described the Jesuits as enemies and accused them of causing all the troubles of the country. The point of the discussion proposed here is to understand the anti-Jesuitism that took place in Europe, especially in Iberian countries, and, from that point, try to indentify signs of the Jesuitical myth, which has revealed itself in many different ways as a part of a cultural legacy that has endured time. In this sense, we will present two cases, facing them as unfoldings of this policy. To analyze Rio Grande do Sul’s and Bahia’s experiences during the first decades of the 20th century, allow us to understand the reflections of the myth since the order's banishment at Brazilian society until social actions European Jesuits in the states.