In search of Christian perfection: spiritual and devout practices of the laity in Portugal (16th-17th centuries)

Abstract

Against the backdrop of the problem of the History of spirituality and intending to draw attention to the importance of the spiritual and devotional practices among the laity, in Portugal, during the 16th and 17th centuries, this article tries to study, based on hagiographic and devout works, some specific cases of figures imbued of spiritual concerns, who lived in the century, and have distinguished themselves in the exercise of Christian virtues, and some of them have died in “odor of sanctity”.