“Dost thou want a good remedy?”

infirmities, beliefs and miracles in a model of feminine religious life narrated by priest João Franco, Portugal, 18th century

Abstract

The article examines the work Vida portentosa da serva de Deus D. Thomazia de Jesus, written by Dominican friar João Franco and published in Lisbon, in 1757, with the purpose of identifying and analyzing the discourse produced about the infirmities that afflicted conventual women and about the traditional and miraculous healing practices employed in the Convento do Salvador, in Lisbon. The text establishes a dialogue with the historiography dedicated to the study of the biographies of devout women, as well as with the one focused on the study of health and medicine, in order to found the discussion of the records the religious man made of the illnesses this woman experienced or observed in the period she lived in this convent in Lisbon, in the first half of the 18^th century, as well as the healing practices adopted by her or recommended by the confessor. The analysis conducted contributes to the understanding of not only the relationship existing between religiousness and medical knowledge in the 18^th century, but also of the meanings attributed to the illnesses and the cures by the sick cloistered women and by their confessors.