João Rodrigues Covette, Vicar General of Maranhão: ecclesiastical Career, Diocesan Administration and justice in the 18th Century

Abstract

We know almost nothing about the careers of the vicars-general who were responsible for all the administration of justice in the ecclesiastical tribunals. The rarity of the archives of these tribunals does not allow us to observe the performance of these officers, so important for the ecclesiastical justice, especially overseas, where vacancies in the dioceses were common and where many of these agents accumulated the functions of provisors and governors of the bishoprics. The objective of this investigation is to analyze the ecclesiastical career and the performance in various segments of the diocesan life of a vicar-general whose documentation is abundant. The case ofJ oao Rodrigues Covette, vicar-general of the Maranhao diocese, even if with intervals from 1734 to 1771, helps to clarify in connected perspective the functioning of the ecclesiastical justice overseas, even in the absence of the bishops.