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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
This unpublished document gives a revealing look at the situation of the Franciscan Order in southern Brazil in the early nineteenth century. It was written in 1833 at the request of Msgr. Scipione Domenico Fabbrini, Chargé of the Papal Nunciature of Rio de Janeiro, by Frei Francisco de Monte Alverne, O.F.M., one of the better-known friars of the nineteenth century, and considered by many to be the greatest preacher in the Portuguese language since António Vieira, S. J.
To understand the deep pessimism and melancholy evident in his Plan of Reform, one has to understand some of the background on the Franciscan Order in Brazil, and to know a little of the life of Frei Francisco himself.
1 The above information was taken principally from a manuscript found in the Province Archives in São Paulo, entitled “Summa do Tombo Geral da Provincia.” The author is unknown. Fr. Basilio Roewer, O.F. M. in his various books, has made use of this same information. See, for instance, his Páginas de História Franciscana no Brasil (Petrópolis, 1941) and A Ordem Franciscana no Brasil (Petrópolis, 1947), and O Convento de Sto. Antônio do Rio de Janeiro, sua história, memórias, tradições (3rd. ed.; Petrópolis, 1945).
2 See Carneiro, Urbano M., “O Franciscanismo Brasileiro antes da restauração,” Cruziero do Sul, 29 (1951), 9–19.Google Scholar
3 The requests for secularization are found in the National Archive, Secção Histórica, Cod. 225. Each request had to have the previous permission of the government, before it was made to the Nuncio, representing the Holy See. Fees were charged both for the civil permission and the brief of secularization. The originals of all the requests and briefs are in the Nunciature Archive. I was not given enough time to check statistically how many requests were actually granted by the Nuncio, but while I made no count in the Nunciature archive, it was clear that denials were extremely few.
4 Lopes, Roberto B., Monte Alverne, Pregador Imperial, Roteiro para um estudo (Petrópolis, 1958), p. 75.Google Scholar The author modestly calls his work a “roteiro” but it is the most complete biography available on Monte Alverne. Carneiro, loc. cit., p. 20.
5 A rare printed copy of these statutes exists in the Provincial Archive of Immaculate Conception Province, today in the Convento de São Francisco in São Paulo. The full title page is missing, but the shortened running head title is: Estatutos Municipaes da Provincia da Conceyção do Brasil. The date of approbation by the Conselho Ultramarino is August 20, 1716, and the publication date is Lisbon, 1717. It is a quarto volume of some 285 pages, containing 123 chapters, and unbound.
6 Ibid., p. 40–41.
7 Ibid., pp. 42–44.
8 This appointment signalled the beginning of difficulties for Monte Alverne in the matter of Franciscan poverty. On May 8, 1833, he made a petition to the Papal Nuncio for perpetual secularization. In the petition he says he entered the Order at 18 without a vocation for such an austere life, that he never could observe poverty perfectly, and had not observed the “common life” (i. e., subsisting on the revenues of the convent without private sources of funds) since 1816 when he was made a pregador régio. Archive of the Nunciature of Rio de Janeiro [hereafter cited as NRJ], Busta 10, Gestione Fabbrini, 1832–1841 Diocesi di Rio de Janeiro, 1832–1835. On Monte Alverne’s philosophic views, see Lopes, op. cit., p. 71, and passim.
9 Because of Monte Alverne's absence from Rio during these years before indepen-dence, he apparently took little active part in the planning for this event, even though much of the preliminary planning was done in the Franciscan convent in Rio. Frei Francisco de Sampayo was one of the leading figures, and a close friend of D. João VI. See Lopes, op. cit., pp. 56 f.
10 Lopes, op. cit., pp. 41–64.
11 See note 8, above.
12 This biographical material continues to be from Lopes, op. cit., pp. 65–89.
13 Ibid., p. 128. The dispensation was necessary because of physical disability, sc. blindness.
14 In 1856 there were only eighteen friars left in the whole Province. Ibid., p. 124.
15 Ibid., pp. 90–129.
* My translation was made from a borrador copy which I microfilmed in the Arquivo Provincial da Provincia da Imaculada Conceição do Brasil, Doc. 26, located in the Convento de S. Francisco, São Paulo. It is dated “March, 1833.” The final copy, dated March 29, I found in the archive of the Nunciature of Rio de Janeiro (Busta 10: Gestione Fabbrini, 1832–1841. Diocesi di Rio de Janeiro, 1832–1835). Because I was not allowed to microfilm in the Nunciature Archive, I checked my copy against the final document and found it was completely accurate.
16 There is, I think, a little sophistry in Monte Alverne’s argument, when he blames the rigorous Franciscan vow of poverty for decay in the Order. The non-observance of the vow is the real culprit, not the vow itself. And this non-observance was the direct result of the entrance into the Order of men without the proper vocation, for reasons we have already discussed, and which Monte Alverne will himself mention in the following paragraph. Of course, his personal situation, sc. oncoming blindness, and the constant loss of friars through secularization, made him extra sensitive in regard to his future security in the Order.
17 “Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto.” Virgil’s Aeneid, Bk. 1, line 118.
18 Johann Lorenz von Mosheim (1694–1755) was a Lutheran histórian in Germany. He strove for a strictly objective presentation of facts and endeavored to mediate between religion and the Enlightenment. The book referred to is Institutiones Históriae Ecclesiasticae (Helmstedt, 1755).
19 All these sects made a great deal of propaganda by stressing personal poverty of their members.
20 The Constitutions of 1717, still valid at Monte Alverne’s time, state in Ch. VIII concerning the profession of novices after one year of novitiate: “… with the novice at the feet of the Prelate, he is asked if he wishes to make profession as a cleric or lay brother, and after he agrees, the Prelate asks him if he renounces all his privileges, and all the worldly goods he has or will have. …” (p. 24). The actual words of the solemn vow are: “I, Friar NN. vow and promise to God and to his Holy Mother Mary, and to our holy Father St. Francis, and to all the saints, and to you, Father, to observe the rule of the Friars Minor, as confirmed by Pope Honorius, living in obedience, without property and in chastity” (p. 26). Today, Franciscans no longer make perpetual vows immediately after the novitiate, but only after three or more years of probation, during which only temporary vows are made. If for any reason they leave during this time, their vows are easily dispensed by the Order. Monte Alverne apparently is correct in decrying the old custom of solemn perpetual vows immediately after the novitiate, when the young man has had very little time to test his vocation.
21 The “fanaticism” of which Frei Francisco here speaks must be understood in the sense of men of the enlightenment, for whom the whole ancien regime with its com-paratively simple faith was considered backward, ignorant and fanatical. The “force of circumstances” he mentions refers to the lack of higher schooling in colonial Brazil, which brought many otherwise unworthy young men to embrace religious life as a means to gain this education, and to rise accordingly in society, gaining in prestige because of being an educated ecclesiastic. With the coming of the king to Brazil, many more white-collar positions opened to educated men, and there were other ways of gaining a higher education.
22 Cf. text above note 3.
23 Monte Alverne’s ignorance concerning the missionary work of his Province is said to be typical of “enlightened” friars, who felt that the mission system destroyed the human freedom of the Indians. Strangely, however, the very convent where he lived in Rio housed the archival materials telling of the missionary work of the province. It was there I consulted the material in 1953.
While the friars of the Immaculate Conception Providence did not do as much missionary work among Indians as those of St. Anthony Province did in the north, they did work in seven aldetas for varying periods of time: the Aldeia of São João de Peruíbe had four friars from 1692 to 1730, and one friar until 1805; the Aldeia of São Miguel had three friars from 1698 to 1765 and one from 1784 to 1802; the Aldeia of Santo Antônio dos Guarulhos had four to six friars from 1699 to 1758; the Aldeia of Nossa Senhora da Escada had two friars from 1735 to 1784, and then one until 1802; the three aldeias of Muriaé had one friar each from 1749 to 1761. See Roewer, Basilio, Páginas de História Franciscana no Brasil (Petrópolis, 1957), pp. 495–537.Google Scholar
24 Monte Alverne does not mention the “estudos superiores” which were taught in the Convento de S. Antônio during the last quarter of the eighteenth century, the only institution of university level in colonial Brazil. The school was approved by royal alvará of June 11, 1776, and in it thirteen professors taught eight subjects of high seminary caliber. Friars, lay students and secular seminarians were the students. It lasted to some extent until 1805 when the last master of Hebrew was named. However, it probably began to decline as early as 1787 when the professors of the aulas rígias of the Humanities complained on January 15 of the competition of the Franciscan school, which was emptying their classrooms. See Roewer, Basilio, Os Estudos na Provincia Franciscana da Imaculada Conceição do Brasil nos séculos XVII e XVIII (Petrópolis; 1954), pp. 91 f.Google Scholar
25 The Statutes of 1717 state clearly that “there be among us the study of the arts and theology,” but only for “clerics very advanced in Grammatica with known ability from which progress can be hoped for.” The friars were also forbidden to study at schools outside the Order, under penalties. Estatutos Municipaes, pp. 35 f.
The new plan of studies mentioned above were those based on the Pombaline reform of the University of Coimbra. Statutes for the Province of Rio were written and even published in book form, but, according to Monte Alverne, they were never fully carried out. See Estatutos para os estudos da Provincia de NSra. da Conceição do Rio de Janeiro, ordenados segundo as disposições dos estatutos da nova universidade (Lisboa: Rígia Officina Typográfica, 1776). This rare volume was found in the library of the Faculty of Law in São Paulo, and probably belonged originally to the library of the Convento de S. Francisco. In 1828 the Order was asked to cede this convent interinamente to the State for use as a Faculty of Law, with no payment involved. It did so. The Faculty later purchased the 5000-volume convent library for “one conto de reis.” It is still state property today. Roewer, , Páginas, pp. 113–118.Google Scholar
26 Here Monte Alverne is, in the opinion of his biographer, exaggerating for effect. The poor professor Monte Alverne had in 1803 was clearly a substitute. Usually there was an adequate professor of rhetoric, e. g., in 1802 it had been the great orator Frei Francisco de Sampayo. Lopes, op. cit., pp. 29 f. Jean Baptiste Crevier (1693–1765) was a French rhetorician and histórian. He held the chair of rhetoric for twenty years at the College of Beauvais. His Rhétorique française was published posthumously in 1780.
27 The nationalism of Brazilian youths apparently antedated the lei de alternativa, and continued after it was abolished in 1828. See Introduction, above.
28 The Rio Province had belonged to the Alcantarine Observant reform group within the Franciscan Order: o reforma Capucho. The proposed new name includes the adjective “conventual” which in Franciscan circles signified the “conventual” or less strict observance. The Order of Friars Minor Conventual was that part of the original Franciscan Order that opted for less rigor in poverty in the fifteenth century.
29 The Municipal Statutes of 1717 do not mention any age limit for the reception of men into the Order. The general law of the Church at that time gave sixteen years as the absolute minimum.
30 “Os religiosos terão sapatos sem Avella; meias prêtas, mas nunca de seda; calção; véstia; chapéo preto, nunca de Pillo(?), com as habas levantadas dos dois lados.”
The Municipal Statutes forbade all coverings for the feet, whether made of leather or habit cloth (burel) or linen, and allowed only open sandals worn barefoot (alper-catas ou solas de couro), except when reciting Holy Mass, when “shoes of leather covering the whole foot” (sapatos de couro & pé cuberto) were prescribed. Boots were never allowed. A mantle or cloak was allowed when outside the convent, but never a coat. No biretta was allowed at any time, nor any hat except a skullcap of the same color (cinzento) as the habit. See Chs. LXXVI–LXXVII, pp. 148–151.
31 This suggested habit resembles that of the Conventual Franciscans, except for the cord, which had been white. The cloak or mantle before this time was never down to the ground in length, but only to the knees. The term “sem roda nem cauda” probably refers to the fullness of the habit and the use of a scapular over the shoulders.
32 The Conventual Franciscan’s habit is black. The Municipal Statutes prescribed only burel as the material for the habit. This was rough wool of cor cinzenta, a sort of brownish gray. See Ch. LXXVI, p. 148. After independence it became impossible to obtain burel, which was made only in Oporto. The friars then switched to black cloth from France or England.
33 Monte Alverne has here changed Franciscan nomenclature from Minister Provincial to Minister General: the Order has only one Minister General, residing in Rome. The Custodio de Meza is mentioned in the Municipal Statutes in Ch. XXXI, pp. 64 f.
34 The old statutes, in Ch. LI, “Dos Títulos,” state bluntly: “Among us, the reformed friars, there are no paternities (paternidades) and so we ordain that no religious, even though he be or have been Provincial, be called or entitled Father (padre), but we shall call each other Brothers (irmaos) or Charities (caridades) and not Fathers or Paternities.”
35 This was a last-ditch desperate effort to abolish the petitions made to authorities outside the order for distinctions and titles. The earlier Municipal Statutes punished those who asked for titles or distinctions: … “if any religious of this province procure briefs of privileges … by that very fact they are considered incapable of holding any offices in the Order, and we wish that they remain the last in their class. …” Ch. LIV, p. 122. However, the briefs were considered valid, if illicit. Monte Alverne now tries to make them invalid (ob- and subrepticious) from the very beginning. He had good reason. Of all the developments of the nineteenth century in the religious Orders in Brazil, none caused more damage than the indiscriminate asking for and granting of privileges which exempted the recipients in one way or another from obedience to the prelates of the Order. There are hundreds of these requests made to the Nunciature or to the government. (See above, note 3). Most of them were granted after the payment of a tax. Note that Monte Alverne excepts the privileges of Imperial Preacher, which he received in 1816.
36 The Breves de habio retento allowed a religious who lived outside the cloister to continue to use the habit of the respective Order. The usual reason for these briefs was health, but it is easy to see the scandal that might arise from these permissions if they were requested for less worthy reasons.
37 The old Statutes fixed the convents in Rio, S⅛o Paulo and Santos as convents for the chronically ill. See Ch. LXXXVII, pp. 163–166.
38 This is not as strong a statement as it sounds, because I found extremely few recourses declared unjust by the government, which almost always decided in favor of the subject against the superior. Regalist governments like Brazil insisted on the right of religious to appeal any ruling of their superiors to civil courts. The effect on religious discipline was catastrophic. It is interesting to note that Thomas Nabuco de Araujo, the Minister of Justice who promulgated the fateful aviso of May 19, 1855 that closed all religious order novitiates, was also the author of a ruling by the Council of State that allowed no appeal from the suspensions ex informata consciencia [sc. without formal legal process] meted out by bishops to their secular clergy (Decreto No. 1911, March 28, 1857). A similar ruling for religious order Superiors would have helped considerably in that “reform” of religious orders which the government was always talking about, but about which it did very little.
39 The earlier statutes devoted Ch. CXIV to “Dos incorregiveis.” Monte Alverne apparently considered these earlier rules not “wisely conceived.”
40 This is nothing new. Franciscan prelates, including local superiors, councillors, custos and provincial all had terms of three years. See Ch. XXXIII, and passim.
41 The old Statutes treat “Do Visitador da Provincia” in Ch. XXXVIII, pp. 81–86. Normally the visitor was named by the Father General in Rome, and could be of any Province of the Order. However, because of the time and distance involved, the Provinces in Brazil had the power to elect the visitor if the nomination did not arrive in time from faroff Rome. The Visitator had powers to make a personal visitation of all the houses and friars, to correct faults, and to preside at the chapter meeting. Severe penalties were mentioned for those who did not obey the visitor. The custom in Brazil was to ask Rome for a visitor from the other Brazilian Province.
In 1827 Monte Alverne was involved in an attempt made by the outgoing Provincial, Frei João de Parma, to name the Visitor without asking higher church authorities. The attempt was repulsed by the councillors, with Monte Alverne, however, voting on the side of the Provincial. See Roewer, , História da Provincia Franciscana da Immaculada Conceição do Brasil (Petrópolis, 1951), pp. 245–246.Google Scholar
42 The essential part of the traditional Franciscan vow of poverty was expressed in the 1717 Statutes as follows: “… by our Holy Rule and the Apostolic Constitutions we do not have any ownership of movable or immovable things, and we have only the simple use of those things which are strictly necessary for us. …” Ch. LXXXVI, “Do Syndico,” p. 160. The friars were to live from the fruit of their work and from alms, always administered through the syndic, a layman selected by the friars to handle economic matters.
43 This term refers apparently to a traditional form of alms-gathering. An alforje is a double sack thrown over the back of a pack animal, and hanging down on each side. The Statutes of 1717 mention this type of alms only once, and do not explain it: “The esmoieres do alforje shall walk in a way that one can see and hear the other, and they shall not enter into any house, except into that house where by order of the Guardian they empty the alms. …” Ch. LXXVIII, p. 152. Apparently these almsgatherers remained some time in the country areas. Perhaps this is why Monte Alverne forbade the system.
44 These are offerings for baptisms, marriages and burials. Normally Franciscans did not and do not today ask a set fee for these services, but accept whatever is given.
45 The 1717 Statutes concerning preachers say clearly that “they shall not accept a sermon without the order of the Guardian, nor shall they set a price for their sermons, but they may accept the alms freely offered them, and no Guardian can give the sermon alms to the preacher. Who breaks this law shall be deprived of his office for two months.” Ch. XVIII, “De Pregadores,” p. 43. The total alms went for the support of the monastery.
Another modification of Monte Alverne was concerning the interest from bonds, bank interest and savings accounts. The old Statutes forbade any “annual income” from perpetual alms. Ch. LXXXIII, “Das esmolas que se deixam aos Frades, e das cousas deixadas,” p. 156.
46 Arts. 16 and 17 present the most radical reform of Frei Francisco. Friars before this time who did any of the things mentioned in Art. 17 would be branded “proprietors” in the sense of the Rule, with the following punishments: “The penalty for proprietors is privation of legitimate acts, encarceration, and deprivai of ecclesiastical burial. Therefore, when a friar dies and is found out as a proprietor, he is not to be buried in holy ground. …” Ch. C, “Da pena dos proprietaries,” p. 217.
47 See above, note 42. The earlier Statutes declare: “… we ordain that the Provincials institute a syndic in each convent, who should be a grave, devout man with a good conscience, a man of means, so that he can easily take care of the necessities of the religious and of the convent … The syndic has authority to receive in the name of the Holy See the alms given us by benefactors, or left us in their last wills, and with these alms the necessities of the friars are to be taken care of … and thus he can sell that which it is not lawful for us to use, or is of no use to us, so that with the price he can provide for the convents and their religious.” Ch. LXXXVI, “Do Syndico,” pp. 159–162.
48 The former Statutes also give to the Father Provincial the right to dispose of “the books” of a dead friar. Ch. LXXXV, “Das livrarías e livros,” pp. 157–159. This also included manuscripts. No mention is made of the other things mentioned here because friars were not allowed to have these objects.
49 The older Statutes were more generous. For each religious who died, each priest had to say eight Masses, each cleric eight Offices of the Dead, and each lay-brother 800 paters, aves and glories. See Ch. LXXXIX, “Dos suffragios que se ham de frazer pelos frades que morrem … ,” p. 166.
50 “Chapter Masses” were those said before and during chapter meetings to ask God’s blessing on the deliberations.
51 Earlier the Father Provincial ordered all materials for the clothing of the friars from the city of Pôrto in Portugal. Upon their arrival in Rio they were divided among the various houses, with each convent paying for the amount used. See Ch. LXXIV, “Da ordem que ha de haver nesta Provincia para o vestuario dos Frades,” pp. 145–147. There was no mention of compensation to religious for their work, because they received their living and nothing else.
52 The Statutes: “On non-fast days, the signal for dinner will be given at 10 o’clock and for supper at 5 o’clock; on fast-days, dinner will be at 11 o’clock and the collation [light evening meal] at 6 o’clock.” Nothing is said of the quality of the food. Ch. LIX, “Da Communidade do Refeytorio,” pp. 117f.
53 The terms “ordinary and extraordinary” refer to food for ordinary days and higher feastdays.
54 Monte Alverne is speaking not of any kind of education, but education according to the norms of the Enlightenment.
55 There is nothing about these matters in the old Statutes. It is not certain whether any of the members of the old Province ever went to the University of Coimbra or to the Roman universities to study. It is well-known that the friars of Portugal did so.
56 According to the Statutes the school year ran for ten months of the year, with two months of vacation from December 8 to February 2. During the school year, classes were held on five days of the week, with Wednesdays free. The daily classes ran from 7 to 9:30 a.m. and from 2 to 4:30 p. m. Every month there were “conclusions” held in each subject, and several times during the year public acta would be held. Outside recreation in the garden was allowed only on free days, as were also supervised walks through the city. The subject matter was philosophy and theology. See Ch. XV, “Da ordem escolástica,” pp. 37–40.
57 The older Statutes mentioned merely “Artes, theologia especulativa e theologia moral,” without any more detail. See Ch. XIV, “Dos Collegiaes,” pp. 35–37.
58 The constitution in force states that “all the students shall be examined faithfully by two letrados of the Province each year, and if they find that someone cannot give a good account of what he was taught that year, he shall not be admitted to study theology, and shall be expelled from studies. …” Ch. XIV, p. 36.
59 The chapter on precedence in the Municipal Statutes (Ch. L, pp. 115–118) agrees with Monte Alverne’s ideas.
60 Some form of Gregorian Chant was certainly used for church service before 1833. What Monte Alverne is asking for is a more professional way of teaching it, with a trained professor, not an amateur.
61 Chapter XXVI of the Statutes (pp. 52 f.), entitled “Das Aldeas,” speaks of work among the Indians, but nowhere speaks of special training for the missionaries.
62 There were no definite rules for jubilação in the Statutes. Apparently, some received it, however, without teaching or with very little teaching. Monte Alverne is here insisting that the public acta and the twelve years be essential for these rights.
63 It is not clear what Monte Alverne meant by a biblioteca geral. The library of the Convento de S. Antônio in Rio was an excellent library, at that time, for the study of philosophy and theology. It is impressive even today. See Roewer, , Estudos, pp. 90 f.Google Scholar Monte Alverne probably wanted a library of books on all subjects.