Amazons, Wives, Nuns, and Witches: Women and the Catholic Church in Colonial Brazil, 1500-1822

321 Pages·2013·1.49 MB·English

by  Carole A. Myscofski

Amazons, Wives, Nuns, and Witches
Book Thirty- Two
Louann Atkins Temple Women & Culture Series
Books about women and families, and their changing role in society
{ Carole a. MysCofski }
Amazons, Wives,
Nuns, and Witches
WoMen and the CatholiC ChurCh
in Colonial Brazil, 1500–1822
University of Texas Press   austin
The Louann Atkins Temple Women & Culture Series is supported by Allison,
Doug, Taylor, and Andy Bacon; Margaret, Lawrence, Will, John, and Annie
Temple; Larry Temple; the Temple-I nland Foundation; and the National
Endowment for the Humanities.
Copyright © 2013 by the University of Texas Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First edition, 2013
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♾ The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of ansi/niso
z39.48- 1992 (r1997) (Permanence of Paper).
liBrary of Congress Cataloging- in- PuBliCation data
Myscofski, Carole A., 1954–
 Amazons, wives, nuns, and witches : women and the Catholic church
in colonial Brazil, 1500–1822 / by Carole A. Myscofski. — First edition.
  pages  cm. — (Louann Atkins Temple women & culture series ;
Book thirty-two)
 Includes bibliographical references and index.
 isBn 978-0-292-74853-8 (cl. : alk. paper)
1. Brazil—Church history—To 1822. 2. Women in the Catholic Church—
Brazil. 3. Catholic women—Brazil. 4. Women and religion—Brazil.
5. Women—Religious life—Brazil. I. Title.
 BX1466.3M97 2013
 282'.81082—dc23 2012050638
doi:10.7560/748538
To Ted and Sonya
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
introduCtion. Amazons and Others 1
ChaPter one. Amazons and Cannibals: Imagining Brazilian Women in
the Colonial Period 19
ChaPter tWo. The Body of Virtues: The Christian Ideal for Brazilian
Women 55
ChaPter three. Reading, Writing, and Sewing: Education for
Brazilian Women 84
ChaPter four. Before the Church Doors: Women as Wives and
Concubines 107
ChaPter five. Freiras and Recolhidas: The Reclusive Life for Brazilian
Women 143
ChaPter siX. Women and Magic: Religious Dissidents in Colonial
Brazil 183
ConClusion. Closing the Colonial Era 228
Notes 239
Bibliography 271
Index 291
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Acknowledgments
My work on the history of women’s religious lives in colonial
Brazil, first conceived as a series of independent research
projects, has proceeded deliberately over a number of years,
and the support of grants, foundations, colleagues, and friends has finally
made this book possible. My preliminary studies on women and Roman
Catholicism could not have been completed without the generous fund-
ing by the Fulbright Senior Scholar Research Award that I received from
the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, American Republics
Regional Research Program, for research in the libraries and archives in
Brazil. Further support came from my Joyce Foundation leave, granted
through Illinois Wesleyan University, for a semester’s sabbatical to research
concepts of gender and religious activities.
Illinois Wesleyan University has supported my work in several impor-
tant ways. The Faculty Development Committee Academic and Scholarly
Development Grants funded my travel to Brazilian archives and my re-
search on concubines, religious women, and late colonial magic, the rather
divergent topics that have been brought together here. FDC Senior Fac-
ulty Development Awards and course releases sustained my more recent
studies on the images of Amazons and Luso- Brazilian concepts of honor,
and the thoughtful advice of Associate Dean Irv Epstein encouraged me
through the process of rewriting the manuscript. I remain grateful for the
research funding that I received through the McFee Endowed Professor-
ship of Religion for completing this project.
I wish to express my deep appreciation for the assistance from Brazil-
ian librarians, archivists, and scholars whose guidance made my continu-
ing research possible. At the Biblioteca Nacional, the library staff in the
Seção de Manuscritos and in Obras Raras made my searches easier, and I