Practices of ecclesiastical justice in Pernambuco in the eighteenth century

a case study (the vicar general Manuel Garcia Velho do Amaral)

Abstract

This paper intends to clarify some aspects on the operation of the ecclesiastical justice in the bishopric of Pernambuco in the eighteenth century. Focusing the life and career of Olinda’s vicar general Dr. Manuel Garcia Velho do Amaral, since this priest have had a long history of services for the ecclesiastical justice his work as an ecclesiastical judge during the colonial time has made possible for us to have a very particular perspective on the main agents of this justice and their means to acted on society, how they interacted with other grades of the ecclesiastrical hierarchy and also what was the social profile of its agents.