Manifestation of Catholicism in colonial Brazil Essay

Manifestation of Catholicism in colonial Brazil - Essay Example Notably, even after the independence of the country, the 1824 constitution made catholic the official religion in the country. The imperial government then even paid salaries to catholic priests and influenced the appointments of the bishops in the country then, thus making the religion rather strong in the country than in any part of the world. The Brazilian hierarchy consists of four cardinals, thirty archbishops and 128 bishops. The region, divided into seventy-seven ecclesiastical provinces, has an additional one archdiocese, commonly known as Brasilia. Excepting for only a few exceptions of provinces such as the state of Sao Paulo, which has five provinces, minas Gerais with three provinces, and Rio de Janeiro with two, most of these provinces corresponds to the state boundaries. The vicars general were the, the reactors of the Jesuit College, as well as the priors of the Benedictine, Franciscan and Calamite converts were the highest local ecclesiastical officials. The tribunal of the Lisbon, having gained supremacy over Brazil in the year 1551, undertook the role of overlooking into the religious and moral practices of the Brazilian people. Headed by the inquisitor general who was the president of the general council, oversaw the activities of other tribunals ion his jurisdiction. However, in case of matters relating to the policies and procedures, the general and the general council reined supremacy, unless the pope decided to rule differently. Temporary tribunals visited Brazil, and with the help of the police, undertook their mandate of inquisition (Wadsworth 19). The Portuguese inquisition, having officially begun in the year 1536, Brazil inhabited then the only the extreme margins of the empire of Portuguese, thus eliciting little concern from the inquisitors in Lisbon. The backdrops of colonial history, which painted the pictures of inquisition in Spain in 1478, saw the expulsion of