“He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth”. Topics of religious power in written and visual Luso‑Brazilian sources (16th-18th centuries)

Abstract

The study aims to analyse some topics of communication of religious power through the Portuguese bishops’ entries to take possession of their dioceses, based on new analytical examples and offering an iconological reading of some available visual documents. Organized with renewed splendor between the second half of the 16th century and the first half of the 18th century, the adventus novi episcopi ceremonies were a
significant moment of political and socio-cultural encounter that marked the history of Portugal and the Portuguese American territories in the post-tridentine period, as well as the Catholic world. In addition to symbolic gestures and itineraries via terra, the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean could also be a moment that contributed to define the munus of neo-consecrated, anticipating and differentiating their service as Empire bishops.

https://doi.org/10.14195/1645-2259_16_6