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DOM PEDRO II AND THE PROTESTANTS: PROTESTANT
PENETRATION OF BRAZIL TO 1889
by
DONNA UPSHA:·i BLAND, B.A.
A THESIS
DJ
HIS70RY
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in
Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
the Degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
Approved
Accepted
May, 1976
ACKNO~VLEDGMENTS
I am grateful to Professor David M. Vigness for
his direction of this thesis and to Professor Robert A.
Hayes for his helpful criticism.
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. . . . . . • • • • • • . • • • • • • . ii
Chapters
I. INTRODUCTION .
II. DOM PEDRO II
III.
IV.
v.
VI.
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE SECOND EMPIRE .•.••••••••
ENTRANCE OF THE PROTEST~~TS.
THE PRESBYTERIANS .•
CONCLUSIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . .
iii
1
4
. • • 19
• • • 34
• • 54
• • • 6 8
• • 77
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The chance of the·survival and acceptance of the
newly arrived Protestant missionaries to Brazil seemed
dim. A traveler to Brazil in 1846 had observed the Bra-
zilians and concluded that "The more I see of this people,
the more distant appears the success of any Protestant
1 missions among them... His opinion of Protestantism was
shared by other visitors to Brazil. Even twenty years
later a steamer captain wrote, "It seems impossible that
it should be the religion of this present Brazilian
people. 112
Yet, at the end of the reign of Dom Pedro II, an
American consular official could write, 11 The American mis
sionaries to Brazil are exerting increased influence. 113
A book written in 1900 would list the .. aggressive work of
1Thomas Ewbank, Life in Brazil; or, A Journal of a Visit to the Land of the Cocoa and the-palm (New York: Harper &:Bros., 1856~ ~238. ------
2John Cadman, Ten Months in Brazil (Boston: Lee & Shepard, 1867), p. 149.
3christopher C. Andrews, and Prospects, 3d ed. (New York: 1891) I P· 3.
1
Brazil: Its Condition D. Appleton & Co.,
2
Protestant missions" as one of the prominent gains in
Brazil during Dom Pedro's "liberal and progressive reign." 4
Considering the traditionally Roman Catholic character of
the country, modern historian Roger Bastide calls this
rapid progress "astonishing. 115
The introduction of Protestantism into Brazil did
not accompany the usual historical .models of religious
change. There was no military conquest or captivity, no
conversion of the ruling class and imposition of a new
state religion, and no revolutionary religious reform of
the sixteenth-century European variety. Indeed, the begin-
nings of Brazilian Protestantism share few similarities
even with the early missionary efforts in other Latin Amer-
ican countries. The entrances made were not as a result
of the usual Latin American pattern of violent revolutions,
followed by the declaration of religious toleration. There
were no bloody revolutions in mid-nineteenth-century Brazil.
Instead, Dom Pedro II, Emperor, ruled.
In understanding why Protestants, despite all the
early pessimistic predictions, gained admittance and even
a surprising degree of acceptance in Brazil, two influences
4Harlan P. Beach, Protestant Missions in South America (New York: Caxton Press, 1900), p. 61-.-
5Roger Bas tide, "Religion and the Church in Brazil, 11 in Brazil: Portrait of Half a Continent, eds. T. Lynn Smith and Alexander Marchant (New York: Dryden Press, 1951), pp. 348-49.
3
must be recognized. The first was Dam Pedro II. His
personality, his training, and his liberality--all these
contributed to his attitude of friendliness and even (in
promoting immigration) to his actual support of some
Protestant efforts. A second factor was the state of
the Roman Catholic Church in Brazil. Its personal and
political status with Dam Pedro and his government and
its spiritual status with the Brazilian people surely
were critical in determining the success of early Prot
estant work. The initial investigation of these two
influences provides a basis for the later consideration
of the Protestant penetration of Brazil during the
Empire.
CHAPTER II
DOM PEDRO II
In 1831 Dom Pedro I abdicated his throne and
sailed for Portugal, leaving the empire to his five-year-
old son, Pedro II. In his last act he appointed a former
minister and advisor, Jos6 Bonafacio de Andrade e Silva,
as tutor and guardian for the child. The move must have
surprised many, for Bonaf~cio had earlier incurred the
Emperor's displeasure and had been deported, living in
exile for almost seven years. In the last moments of his
reign, however, Dam Pedro sought the "most upright, honor
able and sincere person" 6 he knew to take charge of his
son's future.
Bonafacio was a good choice to begin the process
of education and training of the future "liberal and pro-
gressive" ruler. His title of "Patriarch of Independence"
came from his role as "the brains 11 behind the 1821 move-
7 ment. Politically, he was a proud man, ardent, combative,
and, at times, vindictive. Not only did his strong
6s~rgio Corr~a da Costa, Every Inch a King, trans. Samuel Putnam (New York: Macmillan Co., 1953) ,~p-)167.
7 Ibid. I p. 9 5.
4
5
personality make an impression on young Pedro, but his
nonpolitical interests as well were remarkably akin to
those of the Emperor during the latter's adult years.
Bonafacio was a poet, philosopher, man of law, and miner
alogist with "a reputation throughout all Europe." 8
In the royal nursery, Dona Mariana, the first lady
of the Prince Imperial, served as a mother substitute and
guided Pedro's early religious training. In a little
booklet she prepared for him in 1830, she told him:
The Christian faith • always makes for the happiness of society; and though mankind has invoked the name of religion while committing crimes, nothing can alter the purity and perfection of the faith. A truly Christian sovereign must not fail to work for the happiness of the people who are his subjects. Piety, justice, and charity are virtues of special importance in a ruler.9
Manoel Ignacio de Andrade, the Marques de Itanhaem,
followed Bonaf~cio as royal tutor. He was a most pious
man who saw his chief concern to be the young Emperor's
spiritual welfare. He insisted on Mass every morning for
all in the Imperial household (Dom Pedro included) and
encouraged constant prayer on the behalf of poor souls
in Purgatory, especially "between dinner courses, on walks,
8Ibid., p. 94.
9Mary Wilhelmine Williams, Dom Pedro the Magnanimous (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 1
1937), p. 27,'citing Introduction to the Small Historical Catechism offered to His Imperial Hlghlless D. Pedro de Alcantara in Contribul£5es para a Biographia de D. Pedro II, Pt. I.
6
and during baths.u 10
The Marques, however religious, was not narrow or
bigoted. To broaden Dam Pedro's views, the tutor used two
methods. He instituted Sunday dinners to which he invited
a number of government officers, clergy, and foreign dip-
lomats. The conversation was to show Dam Pedro that people
often differ honestly on serious matters and thus nurture
in him a spirit of tolerance. Likewise, in the classroom,
the Marques' regimen included the use of newspapers. He
instilled in his young charge the lifelong habit of read-
ing the press, especially the publications of the provinces.
This early training in piety, mixed with tolerance
and curiosity, was not lost on Dam Pedro. As monarch, he
was bound by oath to support the Roman Catholic Church as
the state religion. He honored the oath, observing all the
ritual formalities. He attended Mass regularly and marched
in religious processions, even carrying the dais throughout
the Corpus Christi ceremony. Once a year, on Holy Friday,
in accordance with royal practice, he publicly washed the
feet of some (carefully selected) Brazilian poor. To his
subjects he transmitted modifications of Catholic ethics
as forwarded from Rome--balking neither at the immaculate
conception of Mary nor the Pope's infallibility (though he
10Bertita Harding, Amazon Throne (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1941), p. 236.
7
may have questioned them personally) • (The exception to
this--a refusal to publish the ban on masonry--came not
as a result of impiety, but rather from a desire to pre-
serve the peace and to uphold his own sovereignty, as will
be discussed in Chapter III.)
Dam Pedro declared himself religious because, he
said, "Morality, which is a quality of intelligence, is
th f d t • f th 1' • • d II 11 e oun a lon o e re lglous l ea. He was an han-
orary member of a league against atheism, which (the
Emperor said) "debased humanity and menaced the social
order." 12 Although it did not come within the realm of
reason, he did not disparage religious sentiment, but even
admitted, "'I have even the good fortune to feel it, though
not to an exaggerated degree, thanks to education for which
I shall always be grateful to those to whom I owe it. '" 13
Dom Pedro, however, despite all his childhood
training and his adult statements and actions, was not an
orthodox Roman Catholic monarch. Admirers called him at
best a "limited Catholic." 14 Critics described his religion
as "superficial, skin-deep. It was an exterior and social
1 lwilliams, Dam Pedro, p. 169, citing Joaquirn Nabuco, Um estadista do Imperio.
12Ibid.
13Ibid., p. 170.
14Ibid. I p. 171.
8
th . th f . t. ..lS ca ol~cism, more from inheritance an rom conv1c 1on.
It was his attitudes and his friendships, his studies and
his interests in other faiths which did not fit the con-
ventional mold.
The Emperor•s love of learning led to a study of
American New England authors and poets. This included
William Ellery Chaning, the leader of the Unitarian move-
ment in the United States. Dom Pedro called him a "Prot
estant saint ... 16 The Deistic First Cause of the Unitar-
ians, stressing reason and intellectualism, were, no doubt,
appealing to the scholar-king.
The Jews were included in Dom Pedro•s liberal
curiosity. He read the Old Testament, visited synagogues,
and learned Hebrew. Through the years, various Protestant
ministers helped him with this language study_ One of
them, J. C. Fletcher, praised his grasp of the Hebrew
language: "I have heard him read the Hebrew, without
17 points, as fluently as if he had been a Jew."
On trips abroad he pursued his investigations of
15Antonio Carlos Villaca, Historia de Questao Religiosa (Rio de Janeiro: Francisco Alves-,-1974), p. 27. Translation of: " . superficial, epid~rmico. Era urn catolicismo exterior e social, mais de heran~a do que de convic9ao. 11
16 '11' d 169 W1 1ams, Dom Pe ro, p. .
17oaniel P. Kidder and James and the Brazilians, 9th ed. (London: Searle, & Rivington, 1879), p. 233.
C. Fletcher, Brazil Sampson Low, Marston,
9
non-Catholic faiths. He read from the scrolls in San
Francisco and New Orleans synagogues. One Sunday in Salt
Lake City, Dam Pedro listened to a priest's sermon de-
nouncing Mormonism in the morning, and, in the evening,
attended a Mormon service, buying literature on the faith
afterwards and asking many questions about it.
A trip to New York included not only worship at
St. Patrick's cathedral, but also attendance at a revival
meeting at the Hippodrome, as well. Dam Pedro sat on the
stage between preachers Dwight L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey.
"On several occasions, when the orators espoused the cause
of Christianity as a whole in opposition to denominational
factions, he nodded with such vigorous approval that his
white locks became disarrayed." 18
In Europe Dam Pedro wanted to visit Wartburg, where
(as he reminded his wife), "You know, Nartin Luther trans-
lated the New Testament there under the protection of
Frederick the Wise of Saxony." (Dona Thereza had to remind
him, smiling, "You are a Catholic.") 19 In Luther's chapel
he asked the organist to play and dropped to his knees when
he heard the strains of "A Nighty Fortress.n 20
These seemingly unorthodox actions and studies may
18Harding, Amazon Throne, p. 288.
19Ibid., pp. 273-74. [No authority cited.]
20williams, Dam Pedro, p. 157.
10
have been prompted by the Emperor's personal search for
greater spiritual enlightenment. A more probable explana-
tion, however, is that they were yet another manifestation
of the intellectual curiosity which had been nurtured in
him since childhood and fed by his travels, acquaintances,
and correspondence. The clearest illustration of his
motives comes from an incident late in Dom Pedro's life,
during his exile in Portugal. His pious and strictly
orthodox daughter Isabel was shocked when her father an-
nounced his interest in attending a lecture on reform of
the Church by Jacinthro Layson, and she protested vigor-
ously.
'Why not?' retorted Dom Pedro. 'The ex-priest Jacinthro aims to regenerate the Church, not to destroy it. To go and listen to him does not signify that one subscribes to his ideas, or gives force to his propaganda. With full knowledge of the matter one can more easily combat it. Besides, he is an intelligent man, a celebrated orator, wellinformed, and moved by earnestness of purpose. Don't you want to know about things? As for me. I would not hesitate to go to hear the Devil himself if he undertook to give public lectures. •21
Dom Pedro's personality, education, and interests
were reasons, then, for his liberality toward, and encour-
agement of, Protestant beginnings in Brazil. Not to be
overlooked, however, are the practical considerations that
Dom Pedro must have had in efforts to foster immigration
21rbid., p. 372, citing Alfonso Celso, 0 Imperador 'l' no ex1. 1.0.
11
and education in Brazil. 11 Two types of circumstances
greatly favored foreign propaganda: the inclinations of
th E h . 1 h d f . . n 22 e mperor and the need t at Braz~ a or ~mm~grants.
Dom Pedro was following the same policy of en-
couraging immigration which was begun before he himself
assumed the throne. In 1810, Swiss workers had been con-
tracted to build the Ipanema Railroad. In 1824, German
immigrants, accompanied by a Protestant pastor 11 Com seu
sustento provide pelo Governor Imperial, .. had been ad
mitted into Brazi1. 23
For Dom Pedro, the efforts to increase immigra-
tion after 1850 were not only due to the desires to in-
crease numbers in a sparsely populated land, but also to
help replace the dwindling supply of laborers as the
country made the gradual transition from the slave labor
to the free labor system. Coffee planters of Sao Paulo
were dissatisfied with the prospect of no new foreign-born
slaves. (Children born after September, 1871, were free.)
His agents ~n Europe recruited to fill the manual labor
gap, "only to find that immigrants were reluctant to come
22; . , Em~le G. Leonard, 11 0 Protestantismo Brasileiro.
Estudo de eclesiologia e de hist6ria social, .. Revista de Hist6ria 5 (Janeiro-Mar9o 1951): 135. Translation of: "Duas ordens de circumstancias favoreceram grandemente a propaganda estrangeira: as disposi9oes do Imperador e a necessidade que o Brasil tinha de imigrantes. 11
23 R'b. . '1 Boanerges ~ e~ro, Protestant~smo no Bras~ Monarquico (Sao Paulo: Livraria Pioneira Editora, 1973), p. 79.
12
because slavery debased the worker and gave Brazil a bad
name."24
Yet, the workers did come and, in 1888, for
example, as many as 131,000 entered the country through
the ports of Rio de Janeiro and Santos. 25
Immigrants were needed to help provide the tech-
nical expertise required in modernizing Brazil. Dam Pedro
was encouraging great expansion of railway and telegraph
lines. Inspired by his trips abroad, he supported new
lighting and sanitation projects for the capital city.
The need for educated foreign help in carrying out
these projects and others was obvious in the face of 90
percent illiteracy rates. Education was the prerogative
of those entitled by birth or position. As late as 1877
only 170,000 children were in any school. Secondary
schools were rare and poorly run. Entrance into the
country's two law schools and two medical schools was
governed more by family ties than by scores on entrance
examinations. "It seems clear that, in general, these
schools made a farce of education."26
Throughout his reign and even 1n the last Royal
24Richard Graham, Britain and the Onset of Modernization in Brazil 1850-1914 (Cambridge-:--Cambridge University Press, 1968), p. 161.
25 Jorge Abel Camacho, Brazil; An Interim Assess-ment, 2d ed. (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, Publishers, 1972) 1 p. 40.
26 Graham, Britain, p. 17.
13
Pronouncement (fala do trona) in 1889, Dam Pedro called
for more technical schools and more universities. Perhaps
he recognized the possibilities of help from immigrants in
this effort. Although the immigrants, in building schools,
sought primarily to keep language and native customs alive,
and the missionaries sought to teach new converts to read
the Bible, their work eventually would be a significant
help in reaching the Brazilian unschooled.
The effort to attract immigrants also helped to
encourage religious toleration. Representatives of the
crown, sent to Europe to encourage immigrants, reported
that when they "invited emigrants to come to Brazil, the
only question raised in every case was that of religious
27 guarantees." Although Article 5 of the Constitution of
1824 guaranteed freedom of worship (in a house with no
external symbols) , the problems of marriage outside the
Church, registration of children, burial in public cerne-
teries, and property rights were all causes of concern to
prospective emigrants. Broadened rights for non-Catholics
not only would help to attract new immigrants, but also
would make newly arrived ones more secure. Darn Pedro
recognized the 11 Well-established fact that the German
colonies prospered and became permanent wherever churches
27Erasrno Braga and Kenneth G. Grubb, The Republic of Brazil: A Survey of the Religious Situation-(London: World Dominion Press,-r932), p. 48.
14
and parochial schools were erected ... 28
During his reign, Dom Pedro pushed (albeit some-
what slowly) for liberalized laws regarding non-Catholic
marriage and burial. By 1863, in Decree 3.069, he ruled
that non-Catholics could have deaths certified and that
all public cemeteries would have a separate place (lugar
separado) for burial of non-Catholics. The same decree
.. extended to tolerated religions the right to grant mar-
riages with legal sanction 11 (estendeu as religioes
toleradas o direito de celebrar casamento com efeitos
1 . ) 29 ega~s . Pastors could get certificates authorizing
them to marry persons who did not profess the state
religion.
The actions of the Emperor encouraged (or, perhaps,
were encouraged by) outspoken support for religious toler-
ation. In 1865, in the Anglo-Brazilian Times (edited by
a Roman Catholic) a reader's letter declared:
If religious disabilities are hurtful in old and densely-populated countries, they are a hundredfold more mischievous in a new and thin-settled one like Brazil; for they tend to repel instead of attracting immigration, and they deprive those who are subjected to them of that feeling of equality of rights and interests which it should be the great endeavor of a people to inculcate among those citizens of other lands who come among them to be of them and with them .... Does the legal restriction of a cross or steeple render the
28 b'd 49 I ~ . I P· .
29 . b . p . 114 R~ e~ro, rotestant~smo, p. .
15
heretical house of prayer less a temple of that God whose worship was first carried on in upper roams, in caves, in groves? Will the sight of heretical peristyles and decorations uproot from the minds of the faithful the precepts of a Church whose claim it is to possess the keys of heaven and hell, to loose and unloose?30
In 1866, in a speech to the newly formed Inter-
national Emigration Society, Dr. Furquim d'Almeida told
the group:
I am a Catholic, I was educated in this religion, I intend to belong to it until death; but my reason tells me that it is needful to give to all the right of adoring God according to their con-science. . The tendency to emigration only exists in the Anglo-Saxon and Teutonic races. If, then, we seriously wish to people our country, we should open its gates to all races and religions, abolishing all the religious embarrassments that still exist in our laws relative to Dissenters.31
When a Monsignor Bedim preached in Petr6polis
against mixed marriages, declaring the children of such
marriages to be illegitimate, a storm of indignation arose
in Petr6polis and Rio. Even the DiArio do Rio de Janeiro
(a quasi-organ of the government) denounced him in "firm
32 but respectful language ...
3°Fletcher and Kidder, Brazil and the Brazilians, 7th ed. (Boston: Little, Brown & Co.,-r86~reprinted, New York: AMS Press, 1973), pp. 625-26, citing "Religious Disabilities," Anglo-Brazilian Times, (Rio de Janeiro) 24 October 1865.
31Ibid., pp. 597-98, citing "Extracts from a Speech Made by Dr. Furquim d'Almeida at the Exchange of Rio de Janeiro, on the occasion of forming the International Emigration Society, January 26, 1866."
32Ibid. I p. 142.
16
That Dom Pedro was sympathetic toward moves legal-
izing civil marriages is apparent from correspondence with
his daughter Isabel:
If my advice had been followed, the civil marriage bill presented to the Congress by the Ministry in 1875 would already have been voted on. I completely endorse the ideas of that project. A Catholic should be married in a catholic ceremony; but he [the catholic] should not be obliged to do so by civil law in order for that act of civil life to have civic effects.33
Yet, when native Brazilians asked, "If for out-
siders, why not civil rights for us?, .. Dom Pedro would not
or could not move with the same haste for Catholic Brazil-
ians as he did for Protestant immigrants. At the end of
his reign, the issue of civil marriage remained to be
resolved. In 1889, a conservative message from the throne
disappointed one young member of Parliament. When Dom
Pedro asked what he had found objectionable, the deputy
replied, "'It didn't say anything about civil marriage,
nothing of religious liberty, etc.,' to which the old
33Heitor Lyra, Historia de Dom Pedro II, 1825-1891, vol. 2 (Sao Paulo: Companhia Editora Nacional, 1939), p. 354, citing "Notas a princeza Isabel, no arquivo da familia imperial." Translation of: "Se setivesse seguido o meu parecer, ter-se-ia votado j~ o projeto de lei do casamento civil, apresentado as Camaras pelo Ministerio de 1875. Adoto inteiramente as id~ias desse projeto. 0 cat6lico deve casar-se cat6licamente; mas nao pode ser obrigado a isso pela lei civil, para que esse ato da vida civil tenha efeitos civios."
17
monarch replied wearily, 'One must go slowly. '" 34
Dom Pedro knew that even as he had sworn to "work
for the general good of Brazil to the extent of my power,"
he had also sworn to "maintain the Roman Catholic apostolic
1 . . "35 re ~g~on. Political sensitivity, if not personal reli-
giosity, would demand that he "go slowly." If the "vast
majority of the population" was "indifferent to religious
matters" 36 and (therefore) to the entrance of the Prates-
tants, the high authorities of the Roman Catholic Church
were not.
Ironically, the state of the Catholic Church (as
suggested by Williams and others) ·may have been influential
in Dom Pedro's decision to permit Protestant entry. The
Protestants not only might help in the educational and
technical needs of the country, but also might give needed
impetus to Church reform. One writer of the times (a United
States consul in Rio) predicted:
One effect of the increase of Protestant churches in Brazil will be an awakening of the Catholic Church. There is nothing more beneficial than competition. At present the Catholic Church in Brazil is in a feeble state.37
34Phi lip Norman Evanson, "The Liberal Party and Reform in Brazil, 1860-1889" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Virginia, 1967), p. 48, citing Affonso de Escragnolle Taunay, Pedro II.
35williams, Dom Pedro, p. 57, citing Pallas do throne.
36 Andrews, Brazil, p. 54.
37Ibid.
18
Many of the Brazilian liberals who pushed for
religious toleration for immigrants and themselves ap-
plauded the growing influx of Protestants and the possible
reform it might bring. Thomas Ewbank, writing in 1856,
found "many native statesmen" who believed that "Romanism"
in Brazil was a "barrier to progress, compared to which
other obstacles are small." 38 Perhaps these liberals
found attractive the theory that "Protestantism tended to
accompany the movement of the propagation of the faith and
of Christian ideas by an intellectual movement." 39 They,
like Dam Pedro, sought greater educational gains and
recognized probable Protestant contributions in that area.
The sad state of educational standards in Church schools,
and even in the scholastic requirements for parish priests,
was obvious to all.
Whether or not Dam Pedro actually recognized and
purposely sought the Protestants as agents of reform is
not proven. What is certain is that the foothold secured
by the Protestants through Dam Pedro's liberal disposition
and his push for immigration was also aided by the weakened
state of the Roman Catholic Church in Brazil.
38Ewbank, Life in Brazil, pp. viii-ix.
39 Blanche Henry Clark Weaver, "Confederate Immi-grants and Evangelical Churches in Brazil," Journal of Southern History 18 (November 1952): 457, citing Fernando de Azevedo, Brazilian Culture.
CHAPTER III
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND
THE SECOND EMPIRE
During his reign, Dom Pedro's freedom to exercise
his liberality and to permit and encourage Protestant im
migrants was due (at least in part) to the weakened posi
tion of the Roman Catholic Church in Brazil. Although the
Constitution of 1824 recognized the Church as the official
religion and expected the Emperor ·to observe and defend
it, the Church had to function under the imperial Padroado,
the right of ecclesiastical patronage. Pedro, as an heir
of Portuguese royalty, could claim this right.
As received from the Pope in the sixteenth century
and extended and enlarged upon through the years since,
the Padroado included the power to nominate to Church
benefices, to control the establishment of churches, and
to regulate the publishing of communications from Rome
within the Empire. In return, the Church would expect
personal and financial support from Dom Pedro. "In short,
the Church as a corporation has been transformed into a
19
20
40 servant of the secular power as a department of state ...
Although it sprang from a common source, the church
which Dom Pedro 11 inherited11 with his crown was not the
strong, rich, powerful church common to other Latin Amer-
ican countries. The clergy had accommodated themselves
to the subservient role.
In fact it seems fair to generalize that in Brazil the priest often was merely one of the dependents of the country squire and the Church an adjunct to the planter's palatial home. This is a far cry from the situation in Spanish America where the sacerdote was absolute master of all that he saw, and the church the repository of all that was of value in the community.41
The subservient Church of mid-nineteenth century
Brazil was characterized by four obvious conditions: the
decayed state of many churches, a shortage of priests, the
laxity of moral standards among the clergy, and a largely
either apathetic or superstitious population. The lavish
old cathedrals stood as monuments to the past fervor of
believers, but the erection of any new churches was an
event of which one seldom heard. Travelers to the country
remarked upon the crumbling state of religious images in
the streets, indicating, claimed one, 11 that their devotees
40 1 . . . B '1 A N C arence H. Har1ng, Emp1re 1n raz1 . ew World Experiment with Monarchy (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1958; reprinted., New York: W. W. Norton & Co., Inc., 1968), p. 113.
41 T. Lynn Smith, Brazilian Society (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, [1974]), p. 128.
21
[ ] d ' ' h ' urnb ' 1 II 42 were ecreaslng elt er ln n er or ln zea .
In the interior of the country, the poverty of the
churches matched the general poverty of the people. Seeing
the poor conditions, William Herndon (an early explorer of
the Amazon Valley) was prompted to vow that he would appeal
for funds from Roman Catholics upon his return to the
United States.
The priestly vestments were in rags. The lavatory was a gourd, a little earthen pitcher, and a jack towel of cotton. It grieved me to see the host taken from a shaving box and the sanctified wine poured from a vinegar cruet.43
A lack of priests and great difficulties ln admin-
istration added to the Church's problems. The large country
was served by only one archbishop and eight bishops. Effec-
tive ecclesiastical administration was impossible in such
enormous bishoprics. The bishopric of Rio de Janeiro, for
example, included not only the city of Rio and the province,
but also the provinces of Espirito Santo, Santa Catarina,
and the eastern section of Minas Gerais. The many peti-
tions for creation of new bishoprics went unheeded.
Indifferent bishops (perhaps overwhelmed at the
size of their territories) rarely, if ever, visited the
42oaniel P. Kidder, Sketches of Residence' and Travels in Brazil, vol. 1 (Philadelphia: Sarin & Bell, 1845) ' p-.-74.
43william Lewis Herndon, Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon (Washington, D.C.: R. Armstrong, 1853; reprinted., New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1952), p. 137.
22
parishes of the interior of the country. This problem
was compounded by a severe shortage of local priests.
Government reports told of backland churches which had
been without pastors for over a decade. In 1843, the
province of Maranhao listed over twenty-five churches
in need of priests. The whole large diocese of Rio was
ordaining only four or five new priests per year.
The shortage of priests could have been, at least
in part, due to the low salaries approved by the Treasury.
The pay was not enough to make the parochial ministry very
attractive. The main reason, however, for the too few
priests and even for their lack of influence and stature
seems to be the people's reaction to the widespread moral
laxity of the clergy. Local priests generally were not
held in awe or reverence and were not accorded the con-
sideration enjoyed by the Catholic priests in Spanish
America or even in Protestant countries. "No one wants
44 to be a monk" was a common remark.
From all perspectives--Protestant or Roman Cath-
olic, Brazilian or foreigner--writers concur on the general
low state of clerical morals. Protestant North Americans,
traveling in Dam Pedro's land, were quick to attack and to
report clerical moral depravity. Brazilian priests, said
44Kidder, Sketches, val. 2, p. 191. Translation of: "Ninguem quer ser frade ...
23
one traveler, "carried their love for the family to pater
nity."45 "In Brazil," said another, "a virtuous priest is
the exception." 46
The Protestants' views might be labeled as preju-
diced if they were not supported by equally strong attacks
by Roman Catholics also. A Sao Paulo priest of Dom Pedro's
day described his Church and his fellow priests by saying,
11 We are in darkness, behind the age, and almost aban
doned."47 Some modern Catholic historians do not disagree
with him. George Boehrer cites many examples of clerical
excesses (including the priest who had the Mass sung for
the soul of his mother and the mother of his mistress) and
concludes, "More than anything else, the moral laxity of
the clergy contributed to the low state of Catholicism in
48 the nineteenth century. 11
Gilberta Freyre admits that 11 it was rare for
ecclesiastics to remain sterile; the great majority of
them contributed liberally to the increase in population. 11
45Thomas B. Neely, South America: Its Missionary Problems (New York: Eaton & Mains, 1909), p:-161.
46Herbert H. Smith, Brazil: The Amazons and the Coast (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1879) ,~ 54.
47Kidder, Sketches, vol. 1, p. 316.
4 8George C. A. Boehrer, 11 The Church in the Second Reign, 1840-1889," in Conflict and Continuity, ed. Henry H. Keith and S. F. Edwards (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1969), p. 121.
24
With Brazilian diplomacy, however, he softens the revela-
tion by asserting that although the priests kept concubines,
they lived "discreetly, without sin, as it were, .
rearing and educating with care their 'godsons' or 'nephews'"
which were "of superior quality." 49
While the morals of the priests moved some Brazil-
ians to speak out in disapproval, the majority of the
population--at least, the majority of Brazilian men--viewed
the Church with the greatest apathy. The almost complete
absence of men in worship services was noticed by many
foreign visitors to Brazil. One wrote, "It is an age of
almost complete religious indifference, at least among the
men of Brazil." 50
Most of the better educated people yielded only a
discreet assent to the forms and observances of the Church.
Although a few of the more devout made occasional visits
to the confessional and liberal contributions to the
church treasury and to the poor, the rest usually had
little use for the priest other than for the baptism and
burial.
One non-missionary American observer of the times
49 Gilberto Freyre, The Mansions and the Shanties, trans. and ed. Harriet de OlliS (New York-:--Alfred A. Knopf, 19 6 3) 1 PP o 4 4 8 1 4 SQ •
50Nevin 0. Winter, Brazil and Her People of Today (Boston: L. C. Page and Co., 1910_)_,-p~302-3.
25
decided that the Church's main use to the upper classes
was as an "amusement. Rio de Janeiro would be the dullest
city on earth without it," he wrote. 51 The festivals and
the imposing ceremonies connected with them were enjoyed
by believers and non-believers alike. Sundays were a day
of relaxation and games--of boating and horse racing.
The younger generation followed the parents' ex-
ample. Kidder found little respect for religion among the
well-to-do youth.
The apology for almost any license was, 'I am a bad Catholic.' The people generally assented to the dogmas of the Church, but seldom complied with its requirements, except when obliged to do so by their parents, or prompted by the immediate fear of death.52
If the upper classes were characterized by indif-
ference to religion, in the lower classes "fetishism mixed
with badly digested Catholicism was the rule." 53 Although
Masses were well attended (again, mainly by women) , the
attendance was considered by many as a sort of "charm."
Protestants called their religion "baptized paganism." 54
Catholics, with no greater charity, described the worship
51codman, Ten Months, p. 170.
52Kidder, Sketches, val. 1, p. 319.
53 Grah~a, Britain, p. 18.
54James E. Bear, Mission to Brazil (Nashville: Board of World Missions, Presbyterian Church in the United S tate s , 19 61) , p . 2 .
26
as "'practices not only idolatrous and heathenish but even
of an absurd fetishism. '" 55
The celebrations of the Saints' days and other
church festivals provided entertainment for the peasants'
hard lives. The masses were not dreary, solemn affairs,
but were often enlivened with popular folk music. When
asked by an English railroad man why the missa cantada had
no sacred music, but only "dance music," a country priest
replied that "the people were not educated up to it yet,
but he hoped in time to introduce it." 56
Although it was made long after the days of Dom
Pedro, a statement by Getulio Varg·as in 1924 aptly sum-
marizes the relationship of the Church and the majority
of the Brazilian people in the nineteenth century:
'Such a statement [that the Catholic Church is the church of the majority of the Brazilian people] is very disputable. In order that a person might call himself a Catholic, he should know the doctrine, accept it and live it. ~vith such conditions only an ~lite, a select minority, comply. The high circles in social life have adopted a Catholicism rather sceptical and elegant. And the vast ignorant masses are still in the age of the fetishist worship of saints with several miracle-working specialities. •57
55Braga and Grubb, Republic, p. 34, citing "Catholicism in Brazil," 0 Oriente, 2 December 1866.
5G . h 1 . B . 1 (L d Hast~ngs C ar es Dent, A Year ~n raz~ on on: Kegan Paul, Treach & Co., 1886), p. 71.
57Braga and Grubb, Republic, p. 35, citing an interview with Get~lio Vargas in 0 Paiz, 29 August 1925.
27
To the list of all the problems plaguing the Roman
Catholic Church in Dom Pedro's reign, some observers have
been quick to add that of Dom Pedro himself. To be sure,
Dom Pedro (as has been noted previously) was dutiful in
his outward observances of Church ritual. Also, the evi-
dences are not lacking of some inner, personal devotion to
Christian beliefs. Yet, Dom Pedro's actions in at least
two instances roused the Church hierarchy to question his
orthodoxy.
One branch of the Church which could not count on
Dom Pedro's support was that of the religious orders. The
Emperor, like the general public, seemed to view the
wealthy regular clergy as indolent and lacking in morals
and discipline. He supported the efforts of Nabuco de
Araujo to try to reform the convents and monasteries. A
preliminary step was a law prohibiting the admission of
novices. The law was provisional, but it remained in effect
almost to the end of the monarchy.
In his diary, Dom Pedro noted,
It pains me to see how the resources in the religious orders are not being utilized . . . and approving the ideas contained in the Nabuco report, that a portion of these resources be used for the education of the secular clergy, I am opposed to the entrance of novices (male and female) , so the religious orders will gradually disappear.58
58Lyra, Hist6ria, p. 355, citing Dom Pedro II in Di~rio do Imperador, 1861. Translation of: "Doe-me v~r como sao-desaproveitados os hens das ordens religiosas,
28
These views received support from the legislative body.
One deputy rose to voice strong opposition to an effort
to grant admission to novices:
The measure [a proposal to allow admission of novices] is contrary to Nature, unsupported by policy, and alike opposed to morality, to our financial interests, and to the Brazilian Constitution.59
The greater cause for questioning Dom Pedro's
orthodoxy came not from his dislike for the orders, how-
ever, but from a contest of wills variously described as
the 11 Masonic Question .. or the 11 Religious Question. Ob-
servers of Dom Pedro's day (as well as today) pounced upon
the incident to demonstrate that Dom Pedro's support of
the Roman Catholic Church and even his own professed reli-
gious vows were merely good public relations work. His
critics saw him allied with the radical liberals and the
Masons, against a Church struggling under monarchial domi-
nation./'Dom Pedro and his supporters viewed the matter as
essentially one of maintaining the honor and dignity of
the Crown.
The Masons found themselves both a cause and a
. e aprovando as id~ias contidas no relat6rio de Nabuco, para que o valor de parte desses bens sirva para a educayao do clero secular, oponho-me a entrada de
.w
novi~os e novi9as, afim de que as ordens se vao extinguindo.
59Kidder, Sketches, p. 202, citing Deputy Senhor Cesar de Menezes.
29
victim of the dispute. Masonry, which had reached a high
state of development in Portugal under the ministry of the
Marquis of Pombal, had sprung up in Brazil at the end of
the colonial era. After independence came the establish-
ment of numerous lodges and considerable support from in-
fluential people. Dom Pedro I, himself, served as the
Grand Master of more than one group.
Masonry in Brazil did not carry the antireligious
or anti-Catholic tones which it had in the Old World. It
was considered primarily a political and patriotic society,
aloof from philosophical and religious contentions. Many
priests, bishops, and monks were members. In the Third
Order of Saint Francis, admission of novices actually
depended on Masonic affiliations.
With such widespread support for the movement and
with its rather innocuous appearance, there is little
wonder that when Pope Pius IX's encyclical of 1864 de-
nounced the Masonic Order, Dom Pedro never gave the paper
the requisite Imperial sanction to allow the circulation
of it in Brazil. His own Council of State President was
Visconde de Rio Branco--Grand Master in Brazil. Pedro
(whose own ties with Masonry are debatable) did not find
the order irreligious and once wrote a friend:
It is at this point that there exists a misunderstanding. Masonry among us is a society
30
that is in no way contrary to religion. What I think is bad is that it is secret, but it is not irreligious.60
The confrontation began to build in 1872 in Rio de
Janeiro when a bishop ordered a priest not to celebrate a
mass ordered by a Masonic lodge. The priest did not comply
and was suspended. The Masons attacked the Church hier-
archy in pamphlets and the press, denouncing the bishop.
Soon the Bishops of Recife and Pare! joined the
dispute by ordering the expulsion of Freemasons from the
religious orders and the brotherhoods (irmandades). The
Brotherhood of the Santfssimo Sacramento refused to comply
and was placed under interdict. Others which defied the
Bishops also had the churches closed to them. Instead of
taking their case to the supreme religious authorities,
the irmandades appealed to the Crown. The conflict had
begun.
As has been shown, the Council of State certainly
was not anti-Masonic. Neither was it anti-brotherhoods,
for the irmandades were well-known for the valuable social
service work they performed. Composed mostly of laymen,
the associations sought bequests and contributions from
members and, with the money, cared for the poor and the
60villa9a, Hist6ria, p. 28. Translation of: "Nisto .I . A . ~.I 'dd e que va~ o engano. ma9onar~a entre nos e uma soc~e a e que nada tern de contrario a religiao. 0 que eu acho mau ~ que seja secreta, mas nao e irreligiosa.
31
sick, gave burials to paupers, and even founded some
hospitals and churches.
The Council of State ruled that the Bishops, as
state-appointed functionaries, had exceeded their rights,
since the papal authority upon which they had based their
bans on Masonry had not been approved by the civil power.
The Council ordered the ban removed. The Bishops retorted
that they had acted exclusively within their spiritual
jurisdiction and continued to place disobedient brother
hoods under interdict.
The press exploited the furor over the incident.
Street demonstrations were held, supporting or condemning
the bishops. Finally, both bishops were brought to Rio,
tried by the Supreme Court, found guilty (with the Em
peror's approval) of violating the Constitution and the
Criminal Code, and sentenced to four years' imprisonment
at hard labor and costs.
While the Brazilian Catholic faithful (of Pedro's
day and today) were stunned by the harsh sentence and were
quick to attack Pedro and the question of his faith, the
Emperor himself saw the dispute as clearly a question of
upholding the honor and dignity of the Crown. He resented
the disturbances of civil peace and the inflaming of public
passions along religious lines in a matter which he re
garded as only the rightful protection of the Constitution,
Imperial authority, and national dignity.
32
In the end--September of 1875--after diplomatic
efforts failed to persuade the Pope to order the Bishops
to restore things as they had been, Pedro was forced to
issue a decree of amnesty to avoid ecclesiastical anarchy
in the country. Although it continued to condemn Free-
masonry, the Papacy responded by promptly ordering the
lifting of the interdicts and the restoration of the
irmandades to their previous status. Bitter resentments,
however, were slow to heal.
S~Atl From all sides, the Emperor was attacked. The
clergy and the conservatives were scandalized by all that
had taken place. Liberals deplored the Emperor's submis-
sion to the Papacy. The Republicans (although certainly
not pro-clerical) cheered any events which embarrassed the
Crown. The Masons suffered loss of prestige and influence
and never again regained their former position. $1t:if Throughout the fracas, the Protestants in Brazil
watched attentively from the sidelines. Although some
were Masons and almost all opposed any Vatican authority
in Brazil, there is no real evidence that Protestants took
highly active roles in inflaming governmental or public
sentiment against the Bishops and the Church. 61 While
61For some interesting, but nonetheless unconvincing, arguments that the Protestants did take an active role, see David Gueiros Vieira, "Some Protestant Missionary Letters Relation to the Religious Question in Brazil: 1872-1875," The Americas 24 (April 1968): 337-53.
33
Protestants were later likely to regard Masons as friends
(indeed, the Masons had, at times, protected Protestants
persecuted by fanatical mobs) , they recognized that the
£riendship with the Masons was often but 11 a willingness
to use the missionary movement as an instrument against
the political power of the clerical power." 62 The Prot-
estants were encouraged to 11 Steer clear of entangling
alliances .. and to emphasize strictly religious and
spiritual enterprises. 63
For the Protestants, the whole dispute must have
been at least an encouragement. The State Church, already
weak in money, priests, and morals, could not always be
confident of the Catholic Emperor's complete support.
While Dam Pedro and the Church argued, the Protestants
continued to enter and to thrive.
62 ub . Am . H ert W. Brown, Lat1n er1ca (New York.: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1891), p. 255.
63Ibid., p. 256.
CHAPTER IV
ENTRANCE OF THE PROTESTANTS
The Protestants entered unimpeded into a nation
in which a liberal monarch eagerly encouraged immigration
and the State Church suffered internal problems and quar
rels with the Emperor. It was not Dom Pedro II, however,
who actually opened the doors and permitted the first
ones to enter. The initial Protestant arrivals came much
earlier--in 1555. The Reformed religion was first pro
claimed on the Western Continent in the territory of
Brazil some seventy years before the pilgrims landed at
Plymouth Rock.
French Admiral Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon sailed
into the Bay of Rio de Janeiro in 1555 and occupied a fort
and erected a place of worship. He was looking for a place
of asylum for the persecuted Huguenots. On the next trip
to Brazil, the vessels carrying more colonists also car
ried two ordained ministers and fourteen seminary students.
The Church of Geneva, led by John Calvin and Theodore de
Beza, had sponsored the Christian group to the New World.
Calvin's orders were that prayers be said every evening
after work was done and that one sermon be preached every
34
35
weekday and two on Sunday. The colony was well supplied
with copies of the New Testament in French. It was one
of the earliest instances of Protestant missionary endeavor.
The final outcome of the mission was tragedy.
Villegaignon showed a change of allegiance and avowed him
self a Roman Catholic. The Huguenots were again persecuted.
Some, by great hardship, returned to France; others fled
into the wilderness. One of these was an early martyr for
the Reformed faith. Jean de Boileau (John Boles) did work
among the Indians. When he attracted the attention of the
Jesuits, he was imprisoned for eight years and finally
brought to Rio by the Jesuit priest, Anchieta, for execu
tion.
The next Protestant influence came to Brazil when
in the 1630s the Dutch captured Brazil's northeast coast.
Whatever the motives of the commercial Hollanders who
attacked Brazil, the Christians of the small country were
quick to follow them and to establish missionary stations
and classes in Pernambuco and the vicinity. In 1636, eight
ministers and five elders met to form the first "classes"
of the Dutch Reformed Church in Brazil. They sponsored
the publication of a few religious books in Portuguese
and a catechism 1n an Indian language. The work, however,
came to an end with the restoration of Portuguese rule in
36
1654, and the last remnants of this church were erased. 64
No new inroads of lasting value were made by the
Protestants in colonial Brazil in the eighteenth century.
The activities of the Inquisition and the Crown's highly
restrictive legislation made it almost impossible for any
person to land in Brazil who was not in the service of the
Crown or the Church. A few English merchants (who evi-
dently did not seek to proselyte) were admitted under
special treaty agreements between Great Britain and
Portugal in 1661 and 1703, but most foreigners were ex-
eluded. Baron von Humboldt was refused a visit to the
country when government authorities worried he might "in-
feet the minds of the people with 'new ideas and false
principles. "' 65 The great missionary, Henry Martyn, on
his way to India in 1805, could only pray from the deck
of a ship in the harbor of Bahia that a blessing of a pure
gospel would descend upon Brazil--"'Crosses there are in
abundance; but when shall the DOCTRINES of the cross be
held up?'" 66
Protestant penetration could begin anew when the
country was opened to international commerce in 1808 with
64some of the clergymen who were driven out did not return to Holland, but went to New Amsterdam to found Dutch Reform churches in North America.
65Braga and Grubb, Republic, p. 47.
66Fletcher and Kidder, Brazil, p. 486.
37
11 friendly .. nations--with England, in effect, since it was
the only important country that was not under Napoleonic
rule. Treaties of Alliance and Friendship (Alianga e
Arnizade) and Commerce and Navigation (Com~rcio e Navaga9ao)
included provisions protecting foreigners from the Inqui-
sition and promising freedom of worship to foreigners pro-
viding they did not 11 preach or declare publicly against
the Catholic religion or try to make proselytes or conver-
. '' 6 7 s1ons.
Under the provisions of the treaty, Protestants
soon arrived to care for the spiritual needs of the for-
eign communities in Brazil. In 1812, R. E. Jones disem-
barked in Rio to minister to the British Anglicans. The
efforts of Jones and others like him were confined almost
solely to the English community- Attempts were not made
by these chaplains to attract Brazilians to their churches.
Notices in newspapers of worship services were almost al-
ways published only in English. Anglican churches subse
quently placed in Recife, Salvador, and S~o Paulo followed
the same example.
On August 12, 1819, the cornerstone was laid for
the Church of St. George and St. John the Baptist. This
first Anglican church was in accordance with the 1810
67Ribeiro, Protestantismo, p. 114. Translation of: 11
• • • pregar au declarar pUblicamente contra e religiao Cat6lica au procurar fazer pros,litos au conversSes ...
38
treaty which limited corporate Protestant worship to
private residences and to chapels which had the external
appearance of private houses. King Jogo VI (Dam Pedro
II's grandfather) himself had some changes made in the
plans to ensure that the plain building to be erected
would not suggest a religious purpose.
The German evangelical churches in southern Brazil
likewise did not have their origins in missionary work.
They began and continued as churches admitted by special
permission of the Crown to minister to the spiritual needs
of the European immigrants. In 1824 the first evangelical
worship service in a Protestant colony was held in Nova
Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro. The government, ~n some cases,
guaranteed (as has been previously mentioned) the salary
of the pastors and made grants of land to the congregations
for the erection of churches, parsonages, and schools.
The few well-trained pastors paid by the Brazilian
government were not, however, able to attend to the needs
of the numerous communities scattered over large areas.
Many communities had to elect lay preachers to serve them
when the home churches in Prussia and Switzerland could
not (or would not) send more trained pastors. The situa
tion was not alleviated until 1863, when, in response to
an urgent plea from the German Protestants in Brazil, the
mother church organized a committee to look after the
Brazilian churches' needs and began to supply pastors
39
from the seminaries 1n Basle and Barmen.
Between 1824 and 1870, forty or more German evan
gelical churches were organized. The first Lutheran church
building in Brazil was constructed in 1830 in the state of
Rio Grande do Sul--the Igreja de Campo Born. Restrictions
against having steeples and bells were often ignored. A
church was built in Petrop6lis in 1852 with the land and
funds the believers had gained as a result of petitioning
Dom Pedro in a private audience with him.
While the Protestants in Brazil of the diplomatic
and commercial communities and the Protestants in the new
immigrant colonies did not conduct missionary efforts,
their demands for religious freedom guarantees did help
pave the way for the first real missionary effort--the
Bible colporteurs (traveling agents) . The Bible Societies
in England and the United States began to send their agents
in the 1850s, but their work of distributing the Word was
begun many years before.
From 1804 to 1817, the British and Foreign Bible
Society issued 20,000 New Testaments in Portuguese. Many
of these were shipped to Brazil. Christian businessmen
and masters of merchant ships helped in the distribution
of the Scriptures. Over 2,000 Bibles and New Testaments
were distributed in 1822 by British merchants in Recife.
One British merchant, Mr. Thorton, was able to distribute
over 3,000 Bibles throughout Rio, Bahia, Macei6, and Para.
40
By 1825, large consignments of Scriptures in Portuguese,
French, and German (to serve the Swiss and German immi
grants) were being sent from London.
From its organization in 1816, the American Bible
Society provided copies of the Scriptures to foreign mer
chants residing on the coast of Brazil. A special com
mittee was organized for the purpose of establishing
contact with merchants and ship captains who might be
interested in receiving and distributing Bibles.
Agents officially appointed by the Societies began
work in 1854. Included on the list of those who worked
to distribute scriptures are the names of many "giants"
in early Protestant missionary efforts, such as A. L.
Blackford, James C. Fletcher, Daniel P. Kidder, and H. C.
Tucker. These men, joined later by agents of the National
Bible Society of Scotland and other smaller independent
groups, laid the invaluable groundwork for the denomina
tional missionary work soon to begin. Protestant mission
aries in later years would be amazed to find small groups
in the interior meeting regularly without a minister to
read the Bible and to pray. 11 Many an old copy of the
Scriptures, kept as a souvenir of a loved one who may have
bought it from one of the pioneer colporteurs, has been
instrumental in the conversion of souls." 68
68Braga and Grubb, Republic, p. 72.
41
From 1836 on, Rev. Daniel P. Kidder traveled ex
tensively throughout Brazil, distributing Bibles to all
ranks of society. While native colporteurs in later years
were inclined to confine their efforts to the middle and
lower classes, Kidder's habit was to approach the out
standing citizens in the towns he visited. He gained a
request from a minister of the government for copies of
Bibles for an entire public school and fulfilled the de
sire of the Sao Paulo legislative assembly for copies of
the New Testament for all the primary schools.
In the early years of distribution, the colporteurs
found an eager market for their books which were sold at
cost or below. When a supply of books was offered for
sale and advertised in the newspapers, a rush of people
of all ages and conditions came from Rio and distant prov
inces to buy them. In the Appendix to his book Sketches
of Residence and Travels in Brazil, Kidder gives many
charming examples of the notes from parents or masters
which children and servants carried to him, requesting a
copy of the Bible. Not only government officials, but
even some priests (although somewhat excited and jealous,
Kidder claims) came to ask for the Scriptures.69
This distribution of the Bible in a Roman Catholic
country was not without some opposition. The earliest
69Kidder, Sketches, vel. 1, pp. 138-39.
42
polemics against the Societies came in 1837 and 1839 in
books written by Father Lu!z Gon9alves dos Santos.
Colporteurs in later years were careful to make at least
a small charge for all Bibles, afraid that otherwise the
people would soon beg the entire supply, "ostensibly to
read, but in reality to deliver them up to their masters,
70 the priests, to be destroyed." Kidder found, however,
that the articles and speeches against him often worked
for the good of his efforts:
This species of opposition almost always had the effect to awaken greater inquiry after the Bible, and many were the individuals who, on coming to procure the Scriptures, said their attention was first called to the subject by the unreasonable and fanatical attempts of certain priests to hinder their circulation. They condemned the idea, as absurd and ridiculous, that these men should attempt to dictate to them what they should or should not read, or to set up an inquisitorial crusade against the Bible. They wished it [the Bible], and if for no other reason, that they might show that they possessed religious liberty, and were determined to enjoy it.71
The earliest beginnings of actual denominational
missionary work in Brazil can be traced back to 1834, when
the Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church in
the United States issued a call for volunteers for mission-
ary work in South America. Reverend Fountain E. Pitts
answered the call and landed in Rio de Janeiro on
70william Azel Cook, Through the Wilderness of Brazil (New York: American Tract Society, 1909), p.~70.
71K'dd Sk t h 1 l 140 ~ e r , e c e s , vo . , p . .
43
August 18, 1834. After preaching in private residences
for a few months, he returned to the United States with
such encouraging reports that in March, 1836, Reverend R.
Justin Spaulding sailed for Rio. There he organized a
congregation of some forty foreigners, chiefly from among
English and American residents. Some Brazilian children
attended the day-school and Sabbath-day schools which he
conducted. On Sunday mornings his usual practice was to
devote his efforts to the spiritual needs of seamen,
preaching on board ships and distributing tracts and
Scripture portions.
Spaulding was joined in 18.37 by Reverend Daniel P.
Kidder, who (as has been previously noted) was very active
in distributing great quantities of Bibles. The work which
he and Rev. James C. Fletcher (agent of the American Bible
Society from 1854 to 1856) did as missionary colporteurs
had two results. Not only was the cause of Protestant
missions well served, but also their labors provided them
with material to write two books which have become classics
on nineteenth-century Brazil. (One admirer observed, "What
these two missionaries did not know about the Brazil of
their day was not worth knowing.") 72 The books were in-
spiration to future missionaries to Brazil and were
72 Roy Nash, The Conquest of Brazil (New York: Harcourt Brace & World, Inc., 1926; reprinted., New York: Bible and Tannen, 1968), p. 400.
44
instrumental in many of the decisions of Southerners from
the United States after the Civil War to go to Brazil.
The pioneer Methodist work was closed in 1842.
From that time until 1855 (the early years of Dam Pedro's
reign) , the Protestant movement in the count!Y was repre
sented only by the Protestant immigrants and their minis
ters and by the few converts whom the early missionaries
or the Bibles left by the colporteurs had made. Bible
societies still made occasional consignments of Scriptures
to Brazil, but the next establishment of regular, orga
nized work did not take place until Dr. Robert Reid Kalley,
a Scottish physician, landed in Ri~ on 10 March 1855.
Dr. Kalley's ministry in Brazil forms a unique
episode in the history of the Protestant movement in
Brazil. Although he had come from a Scottish Presbyterian
family and later was to send his workers to study at British
Baptist schools, Kalley claimed complete freedom from de
nominational ties. With no affiliation with any established
ecclesiastical body abroad, however, he effectively began
the Congregational Churches in Brazil.
Kalley had been the former leader of the Protestant
community on the Portuguese island of Madeira (where he
had gone in 1839 for the sake of his wife's health). Along
with dispensing free medical aid, he had preached to the
community--sometimes to over a thousand listeners. Severe
persecution developed, and in 1845 he and his adherents
45
were forced to flee the mobs. When some of his converts
settled in Rio de Janeiro, he joined them in 1855.
With the help of these friends from Madeira, his
work prospered. In 1858, a church was incorporated in Rio
with a small group of converts--the first real church for
Brazilian Protestants. (Today it is the Igreja Evangelica
Fluminense.) By 1871, the church had over 150 members and
two years later it had helped to organize a second congre
gation in Pernambuco. The pulpit in Rio was filled in
1875 by a Brazilian convert, J. M. Gon9alves dos Santos,
whom Kalley had sent to Spurgeon's College in London for
training in theology and pastoral technique.
The intriguing aspect of Kalley's work, however,
was not the success he realized without actual denomina
tional backing, but the relationship he had with the Bra
zilian nobility and even with Dam Pedro himself. Kalley
had a house in Petropolis, next door to that of the United
States ambassador. After introductions had been made, Dam
Pedro became a frequent visitor in Kalley's home. The two
had many common interests; both had studied Greek and
Hebrew and had traveled in the Near East and the Holy
Lands. The Emperor was making translations into Portu
guese of various poems and prose (mostly New England
authors) into English. Kalley had translated Pilgrim's
Progress into Portuguese and had serialized it in a Rio
de Janeiro newspaper.
46
Kalley's friendship with Dom Pedro did not rouse
the ire of the Roman Catholic Church, but Kalley's success
in converting members of the royal Court did. On January
7, 1859, he baptized two ladies of the nobility--Dona
Gabriela Augusta Carneiro Leao, sister of the Marquis of
Parana and of the Baron of Santa Maria, along with her
daughter, Dona Henriqueta. The Church responded through
the Papal Nuncio with a demand that the Foreign Minister,
the Viscount of Rio Branco, request that the British au
thorities put a stop to Kalley's open preaching of Prot
estantism in Brazil. The Catholic press made a violent
attack against the missionary. On the other side, three
prominent lawyers (Nabuco, among them) argued that Kalley
had not violated the law.
The Viscount finally did make a rather half
hearted complaint to the British authorities, but the sting
was taken out of the complaint when, at the height of the
furor, Dom Pedro chose to make a two-hour visit to the
bedside of Dr. Kalley, who was ill. The missionary con
tinued to preach and later made other converts within the
nobility. He continued to suffer also occasional perse
cutions, however, and, at times, had to endure threats
and insults, the rocks and even excrements which were
thrown at him.
Dr. Kalley's faithfulness and endurance prepared
the way for the arrival of the next denominational
47
missionaries--the Presbyterians. Ashbel Green Simonton
arrived in August of 1859 to begin the work. After first
mastering the Portuguese language thoroughly, he traveled
extensively throughout the provinces of Rio de Janeiro
and Sao Paulo. Although he and Dr. Kalley were friends,
Simonton (an eager young man in his twenties) felt that
Kalley was confining himself too closely to the upper
class. The Presbyterian chose to be more aggressive in
his preaching and desired to appeal more openly to the
73 public 1n general.
After the Civil War in the United States, three
more groups of missionaries arrived in Brazil--the Southern
Presbyterians, the Methodist Episcopal (South), and the
Baptists. The Methodist Episcopals sent Reverend J. J.
Ransom in 1876 to Rio. Later he joined with a Brazilian,
Dr. Joao Correia, in evangelistic work in the state of Rio
Grande do Sul. At the other end of the country, Methodist
work was begun in the state of Amazonia in 1883.
Although few in number, the Methodists' effects
were far-reaching. Ransom's first converts in 1879 in
cluded an ex-priest, Father Ant6nio Teixeira de Albuquerque
(who later was of great help to the Southern Baptist mis-
sionaries). Ransom recruited four new missionaries from
73The Presbyterian missionary efforts--the first enduring work of national scope--will be discussed 1n greater detail in the following chapter. The account of Kalley's work is based on Braga and Grubb, Republic; Graham, Britain; Ribeiro, Protestantismo; and Vieira, "Some Protestant Hissionary Letters."
48
the United States; one of them, Miss Martha Watts, estab-
lished the first Methodist school in the country in 1881.
Some seeds sown by the Methodist missionaries
during the reign of Dom Pedro did not bear their fruit
until years later. Reverend J. E. Newman, originally sent
to minister to the southern American immigrants, moved to
Piracicaba, Sao Paulo, in 1880. There, his daughters
established a private school. Among the friends the
Methodist missionary made in the town was a young lawyer,
Dr. Prudente de Moraes Barros, who was later (1894) to
become President of the Republic of Brazil. The friendship
between these two men and the favorable impression made by
the small Protestant school on the future President "did
much to open the country to the Protestant missions, and
was a powerful factor in the great changes in education
d h bl • • 1174 un er t e repu lean reglme.
Baptist work in Brazil had a poor start in 1859 when
Reverend T. J. Bowen was transferred from Yoruba in Africa
to Brazil. The Brazilian people "suspected him of being
an insurrectionist when he spoke to their African slaves
in their own Yoruba tongue." 75 In poor health, Bowen soon
left for the United States, reporting to his American
74Braga and Grubb, Republic, pp. 62-63.
75aelen Bagby Harrison, The Bagbys of Brazil (Nashville: Broadman Press, 195~ pp. 19-20.
49
Baptist Board of Missions that conditions in Brazil were
not favorable for mission work.
Nonetheless, Baptist representatives later returned
to Brazil. Some were sent to minister to the southern
American colonists. Others--beginning with Reverend W. B.
Bagby and Reverend z. c. Taylor in 1881--were authorized
by the Southern Baptist Convention to begin work among the
Brazilians. By 1882, the first Brazilian Baptist church
had been organized. It reported seventy-five members by
the next year. The first Baptist school opened in 1890,
only shortly after Dom Pedro's reign ended.
As has been mentioned earl.ier, the American Civil
War (1861-1865) had a far-reaching effect on the evangel-
ical work in Brazil. The last churches to send representa-
tives during Dom Pedro's reign were "products" of the War--
newly formed southern evangelical churches. Their interest
in Brazil was in great part due to the work of Confederate
General A. T. Hawthorne. Very much concerned with the
plight of those whose lives had been ruined by the War,
the General visited Brazil to investigate the possibilities
for immigration. He was introduced to Dom Pedro, who was
enthusiastic about the plans and later offered 11 free trans-
portation from Rio to the interior, guides and interpreters
and land at 22 cents an acre." 76
76 . . 5 Bear, M1ss1on, p. •
50
The promise of cheap land and a good climate in a
country where slavery was still legal sounded very good to
many of the defeated, discouraged Southerners. As the
former Confederates read avidly of this tropical "paradise,"
new editions of Fletcher and Kidder's Brazil and the Brazil-
ians had to be run in 1866, 1867, and 1868. The book,
Brazil, The Home for Southerners, by Ballard S. Dunn, en-
couraged many more to consider going. Dunn, rector of
Saint Phillip's Church in New Orleans and formerly of the
Confederate Ar~y, printed exciting, optimistic reports of
the new land:
We have the best system of government known to men; while it combines all the elements of strength requisite to insure its stability against every emergency, it guarantees PRACTICAL EQUALITY to ALL its citizens, and administers justice with a firm and willing hand. We have a monarchy (thank God!) in name, and a TRUE Republic in practice; and under the wise administration of our good Emperor, our destiny must be onward and upward to a degree of prosperity unknown to other countries.77
In the next years following the War, approximately
four thousand Southerners arrived in Brazil to begin a new
life. Four colonies were begun--one at Santar~m on the
Amazon, one on the east coast of Brazil in Bahia, and two
in the state of Sao Paulo. Farming was the chief occupa-
tion. Although slavery in Brazil continued until 1888,
77 (New Orleans: Bloomfield & Steel, 1866), p. 178.
51
very few of the colonists actually acquired slaves. The
bitter resentments, however, carried from the Civil War
days were a long time in dying. Describing the Reverend
Ballard Dunn's colony, John Cadman wrote:
It is the avowed determination of the reverend head of this colony, that his people shall keep themselves separate from Northerners. If any should show themselves . . . they may expect to be driven away, as the Quakers were once ousted from the sacred soil of New England.78
Even with such great expectations, the major por-
tion of the American immigrants stayed less than five
years. One boat-load of colonists, upon arrival in Brazil,
rented a hall and proceeded to burn the American flag, de-
claring themselves to be forever separated from the United
States. Within six months, many of the same were on board
ship, returning to the United States, unable to withstand
the rigors of the new country. Cadman recorded some of the
returnees' complaints:
The disappointed homeward-bound men told us that it was 'a country not fit for a dog; 1 that the bichos [insects] destroyed the cattle, the ants ate the seed faster than it could be planted; there was either too much rain or not enough; the Brazilians were bad neighbors; no labor was to be had; there were no churches or schools; all, all was discouraging and cheerless!79
The groups of colonists who chose to remain,
though small in number, had a significant effect on the
78codman, Ten Months, p. 183.
79 b"d 130 I ~ . ' p. .
52
decisions of the new "southern" churches in the United
States to make Brazil their field of missionary endeavor.
Several ministers accompanied the colonists to Brazil.
One who went to the Santa Barbara colony in Sao Paulo was
Rev. William C. Emerson who formerly had been the Moderator
of the East Mississippi Presbytery. Faced as they were,
however, with the necessity of making a living for them-
selves by farming, these clergy could not adequately
minister to the spiritual needs of those around them and
so heartily joined with the colonists in making appeals to
the "mother" churches to send out missionaries to preach
to them, as well as to spread the ·Protestant Gospel to the
natives.
Missionaries in Brazil, faced with the already
great task of nurturing their fledgling Brazilian churches,
could not adequately serve the new colonists. Presbyterian
missionary A. L. Blackford joined to plead the colonists'
request, "'There's not a single settlement of Americans
as far as I know where the Gospel is steadily preached.
Their future welfare and influence on the native popula
tion depend on something being done for them. , .. so
The southern Presbyterian, Methodist Episcopal,
and Baptists churches did respond. Their newly arrived
80 Weaver, "Confederate Immigrants," p. 455, citing A. L. Blackford to H. B. Pratt in Missionary 1 (October 1868).
53
missionaries found a hearty welcome in the colonists'
homes, much encouragement for their Gospel-spreading
labors, and a "bonus," as well--the many lovely Christian
daughters of marriageable age. The family names of many
of the early colonists appear even today on the missionary
roles of the churches in the United States. One "patri
arch" was Captain James W. Miller, formerly of South
Carolina. Five of his granddaughters were to be the
wives of missionaries--providing yet another way that
the colonists aided in establishing the Protestants in
Brazil.
CHAPTER V
THE PRESBYTERIANS
In relating the history of Protestant penetration
in Brazil during Dom Pedro's reign, the Presbyterians de-
serve more detailed attention. Their work was not only
the first truly denominational effort which had lasting
success in Brazil, it was also the first to attain national
. 81 proport1ons. .
In 1859, the Board of Foreign Missions of the
Presbyterian Church in the United States of America sent
out young Ashbel Green Simonton as its first missionary
to Brazil. He quickly made friends among the American and
English residents in Rio and began to apply himself to the
task of learning the Portuguese language. In a small hall
which he had rented in the central part of the city,
Simonton began teaching English free of charge to small
groups of Brazilians, speaking to them constantly of the
81unless otherwise noted, the history of the Presbyterians was compiled using the following sources: Bear, Mission; Braga and Brugg, Republic; Julio Andrade Ferreira, Hist6ria da Igreja Presbiteriana do Brasil, vol. 1 (Sao Paulo: Casa Edit6ra Presbiteriana, 1959); William E. Read, New Patterns in Church Growth in Brazil (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing-co., 1965).
54
55
Gospel. Only eight months after his arrival he was able
to open a Sabbath-day school for children. On January 12,
1862, the first Presbyterian church in Rio was instituted
and the sacraments were administered. Simonton baptized
the first two converts--one of them, a businessman, the
representative of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. Two
years later, the membership in the church had risen to
over one hundred.
Of special significance was the weekly newspaper
which Simonton began to print in November of 1864. With
his Imprensa Evang~lica he hoped to reach many who would
not come to his worship services:
Through this means [the newspaper] we instruct many who cannot be reached by other methods currently being used in preaching the Gospel • A number of people, perhaps greater than is thought, are aware of the Gospel only through the reading of the Imprensa Evangelica.82
He was aided in the publishing by convert Antonio dos
Santos Neves, a government employee, who contributed many
articles to the paper and later authored many Brazilian
hymns.
Simonton was pleased with the acceptance of his
paper. Subscriptions (including some from the Court's
82Ferreira, Historia, p. 36, citing Ashbel Green Simonton in Annual Reports, 24 January 1867. Translation of: "Par este meio instru:lmos muitos que nao estao ao alcance de outros meios atualmente empregados na pregaQao do Evangelho. . Urn nlimero de pessoas talvez maior que se pensa, sb tern not{cia de Evangelho par meio da leitura da Imprensa Evangelica."
56
nobility) were almost always renewed. Simonton reported
that even some well-stationed priests "'have confessed
that the Imprensa is a defender of the truth. '" 83 Like
wise, the Rio newspaper, 0 Di~rio, gave the newspaper a
favorable review.
Although Simonton's ministry was extremely fruitful,
it was also representative of the sorrows and dangers to
which he and all other missionaries of that time were
subject. Simonton had returned from a short furlough to
the States in 1864 with a new young bride, Helen. Just
over a year later, Helen died, a week after childbirth.
Simonton himself was to live only three more years--he
fell victim to yellow fever at the age of thirty-four.
The Presbyterian work was continued by Simonton's
brother-in-law, Alexander Blackford, who had arrived in
April of 1860. He had had much greater difficulty in
learning the language, but had proved a hard, able worker.
He aided in the work in Rio, but soon moved on to Sao
Paulo where he organized three churches. Blackford served
also as the agent for the London Bible Society for a ten-
year period. Some help for his missionary work came from
Rev. Francis J. c. Schneider, a naturalized United States
citizen (born in Germany) whom the Presbyterian Church in
83rbid. Translation of: "tern confessado que a Imprensa ~ uma defensora da verdade."
57
New York had sent out in December of 1861 to minister to
the German colonists in Sgo Paulo.
One of the most significant events of Blackford's
early ministry was the conversion of a priest, Father Jos~
Manoel da Concei9ao. Concei9ao had been the priest in
Brotas, Sao Paulo. While studying about St. Anthony in
order to preach a festival day sermon, he discovered that
there was no mention of St. Anthony in his Bible. As he
began to read the Scriptures carefully for himself, he was
eager for someone with whom he could discuss the Bible and
its teachings. Blackford heard of his interest and went
to visit him. The meeting marked a great turning point in
Concei9ao's life.
After long discussions with Blackford, the priest
went on to Rio for study with Simonton. On October 23,
1864, Concei9ao made a profession of faith in Jesus, was
re-baptized, and became a member of the Presbyterian Church
of Rio de Janeiro. (The news traveled quickly and a bishop
soon served him with a notice of excommunication and pro
nounced him "insane.") He was soon preaching with great
zeal to vast crowds (many, to be sure, who came only to
goggle at the spectacle of an ex-priest!). On December 17,
1865, Concei9ao was ordained in the newly formed Presbytery
of Rio de Janeiro.
Immediately Concei9ao began the extensive mission
ary trips for which he became famous. He began his
58
wanderings without money, carrying only his Bible and a
valise, in which he had a medicine chest for the needy
and the poor. Although the American missionaries were
greatly inspired by his work, they were frequently con
fused by his somewhat unorthodox methods:
A plan of campaign would be mapped out, involving his going hither and yon, this plan being talked over with him with no assent or dissent save occasional grunts; then the next morning it would be discovered that he had taken his staff and started a hike entirely of his own devising.84
He was persecuted in every possible way. Despite
his long journeys over an immense area, he seldom (as an
ex-priest) was offered any hospitality. Often he was even
stoned and beaten. One night he fell by the roadside to
die--exhausted by nine years of hard labor, physical suf-
fering, and deprivations. He was taken into a military
garrison nearbyL where he died on December 25, 1873. The
commanding officer of the garrison, influenced apparently
by Concei9ao's life and his death, was converted.
The influence of Concei9ao was felt for many years
after his death. Missionaries traveling to remote villages
often found that the Gospel had been preached there years
before by the Brazilian. Tales were circulated about the
St. Francis-like life he lived. His place in the history
84w. Reginald Wheeler and others, Modern Missions in Chile and Brazil (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1926) 1 p.~8.
of Brazilian Protestants was secure:
Brazilian Protestantism had, in Conceiyao-who opened its paths and crowned its beginnings with a mystical halo--a saint.85
59
Blackford, along with Schneider, Pierce Chamberlain,
and others continued establishing small churches throughout
Sao Paulo, reaping the fruits of Concei9ao's labors. They
were soon joined by the first representatives of the Pres-
byterian Church in the United States (the post-Civil War
"southern" Presbyterian Church). Rev. George Nash Morton
of Mississippi and Rev- Edward Lane of Georgia were sent--
the first of more than twenty missionaries which the
southern church was to send during the reign of Dom Pedro.
Although their committee on missions had recom-
mended that a mission be established on the coast of Brazil,
Morton and Lane were attracted to the town of Campinas in ,....
the interior of the state of Sao Paulo. The work and sue-
cesses of Concei9ao had persuaded many missionaries that
the interior, rather than the coastal cities, might be the
more fruitful area for evangelistic endeavors. Also,
Campinas was located nor far from the American immigrant
colony in Santa Barbara. Morton hoped that "'the social
and commercial relations of these settlers with the natives
of the country'" would facilitate his work with the
85L~onard, "0 Protestantismo," p. 154. Translation of: "0 Protestanismo brasileiro teve, em Conceip~o--que abriu seus caminhos e nimbou seus prim6rdios de uma aurela ml:stica--um santo ...
60
Brazilians and would give him "'a rare opportunity of
teaching the adherents of an apostate church the evan
gelical truth. '" 86
The first months in Campinas after the arrival of
Lane and Morton (and Morton's wife) were spent in learning
the language and making trips to neighboring towns where
they hoped to establish preaching points. Northern Pres-
byterian friends, such as Rev. Hugh W. McKee and Rev.
George Chamberlain, often accompanied them, eager to help
them begin their work.
From their first visit in October, 1869, Lane and
Morton made it a practice to preach in the colony of Santa
Barbara once a month. At first, the services were held in
private homes; ~n 1870 the Methodists, Baptists, and Pres-
byterians build a corrununity church building (called "Campo
Church") and set aside the land beside it for a cemetery.
Along with the usual work of organizing Sunday
schools and churches in Campinas, Morton taught in a pri-
vate col~gio five nights a week. He was teaching Greek to
the Brazilian professors, using the New Testament as a
textbook. He also tutored three boys, two of whom were
Americans.
Morton and Lane dreamed of establishing a first-rate
86 M' . Bear, ~ss~on, p. 11, citing Edward Lane in The Missionary, vol. 2, p. 24.
61
Protestant college in Campinas. On a trip to the States
in 1871, Lane was able to convince the Executive Committee
o£ the Presbyterian General Assembly of the need to appro
priate the money to begin the school. The Colegio Inter
nacional opened its doors to both Brazilian and American
immigrant students in 1873. Missionary men and women were
the professors, teaching in both English and Portuguese.
The school campus increased in property size and
number of buildings. The enrollment reached 187 students
in 1878. Dam Pedro, accompanied by the governor of the
state, had visited the school 1n 1875 and "expressed him
self as well pleased with the work done there. 1187 To all
outward appearances the school was firmly established and
was a great success.
The whole endeavor came to an unhappy end, however,
in 1879. Morton, somewhat obsessed with promoting the
growth o£ the college, continued to build, even without
the financial support needed. The college was deeply in
debt. The financial panic of 1873 in the United States
had a£fected church giving and had left the Executive Com
mittee of the General Assembly entirely unable to meet
Morton's request for twelve thousand dollars to pay the
school's debts. Bonds were finally issued, but money
problems continued to plague the school.
87rbid. I p. 15.
62
In the end, as the situation grew worse, the Pres
byterian mission requested that Morton turn over the fi
nances to another missionary, John W. Dabney. Morton
refused and suddenly went to Sao Paulo with about half
of the faculty and students to open his own school in
that city. 88 The whole mission was ln an uproar.
Although the Col~gio Internacional continued in
Campinas (until 1892) , the tragic experience of the school
venture affected the thrust of the Presbyterian mission
for many years to come. Those missionaries who felt that
the church was not responsible for secular education used
the school as an example of why mi'ssionaries should con
fine themselves to evangelism and the training of church
leadership. While some Protestant missionaries, faced with
widespread ignorance and encouraged by the government and
the nationals, devoted themselves to educational, medical,
and agricultural aid, the Presbyterian leaders, chastened
by the Carnpinas experience, were convinced for many years
to come that the establishment of self-supporting, self
governing, and self-propagating churches was the central
function of missions.
While the southern Presbyterians tried to solve
the school problem in Campinas, the northern Presbyterian
missionaries worked with greater success. In 1870,
88This school ended in bankruptcy in 1881.
63
Chamberlain and his wife had opened the Escola Americana . ,., ~n Sao Paulo. Later to be known as Mackenzie Institute
and to be the largest university in Brazil, the school
began with only three pupils--"one white boy, one black
boy, and one white girl, thus beginning coeducation and
the democratic mixture of social classes which has con-
t . d . ,,89 ~nue ever s~nce.
The northern Presbyterian missionaries also con-
tinued to multiply churches in the states of Rio de Janeiro
and Sao Paulo. The Presbytery of Rio de Janeiro was formed
in 1865. A seminary was established in Rio in 1867 so that
Brazilians could be trained to serve the growing number of
congregations. The area around Carnpinas had proved an
especially fruitful area for growth; by 1882, the field
had six mission stations and sixteen organized churches.
The southern Presbyterians, with less "open" ter-
ritory now that the "northerners" had moved in to work,
began to search for new areas to evangelize. A German-
born colporteur, Philip Wingerter, had brought such enthu-
siastic reports of the possibilities in Minas Gerais and
~· Goias that Rev. John Boyle was determined to increase the
mission field to include those areas. In the summer of
1887, Boyle and his wife, along with Rev. George W.
Thompson, moved to Bagagem (Estrela do Sul), just south
89 Wheeler and others, Modern Missions, p. 194.
64
of the Goi6s border in Minas Gerais. Their work there
was to include not only preaching, but also the printing
(beginning in 1888) of a Christian newspaper, A Evangelista.
Boyle made long trips into the interior, delighted
at the receptiveness of the people to his preaching of the
Gospel. In the summer of 1889, he took his whole family
on a six-hundred-mile trip on horseback. "His two older
boys rode ponies. The youngest rode on a pillow in front
of his father, and all stood the trip well. They had
seven pack mules for their things." 90
Another field of expansion was 1n northern Brazil.
The southern Presbyterian church sent Rev. J. Rockwell
Smith to Recife in January, 1873. Smith surveyed the whole
northern area and quickly saw the need for missionaries 1n
many places--Recife, Bel~m, Sao Luiz, and Macei6. He
dreamed of opening schools, printing Gospel literature,
and hiring more Bible colporteurs. His dreams were soon
crushed when the Panic of 1873 put the mother church in
the United States deeply into debt. No more new mission-
aries could be sent out for several years.
Smith labored alone for most of the years between
1874 and 1883. The additional help sent from time to time
was removed one after another by ill health or death.
Smith persevered, however, and by 1878, he had organized
90 M" . 21 Bear, lSSlon, p. .
65
a church in Recife. Services often were attended by as
many as two hundred people. He was able to train person
ally some ministerial students and to use them as part
time colporteurs and evangelists. A little magazine was
published, starting in 1876.
Smith's frequent letters to the States, urgently
requesting more help, finally met with success. By 1887
there were seven missionaries in northern Brazil: Rev.
and Mrs. Smith, Rev. and Mrs. DeLacy Wardlaw, Dr. and Mrs.
George Butler (he was both a minister and a physician) ,
and Mr. William Porter (a lay missionary who had come as
a youth with his family from Alabama to the American colony
in Sao Paulo). The mission's work was scattered from Sao
Luiz in Maranhao to Maceib in Alagoas. A Presbytery of
Pernambuco was organized in 1888 and three Brazilian
ministers were ordained.
Although the work was making good progress, both
in numbers and in area, the missionaries labored under
increasingly hazardous conditions. The threat of yellow
fever was constant--claiming missionary victims with
appalling frequency. Religious persecution, while not so
intense during Dom Pedro's reign as it was to be afterwards,
was, nonetheless, a very real threat to the Protestants.
In the earliest days of Protestant work, this
opposition generally was confined to books and pamphlets
written to denounce the "heretics.'' Often these attacks
66
(and the Masonic press' denounciation of them) only served
to make the Protestants' presence better known to the
country and even to create some sympathy for the Prates-
tants.
As the missionary work claimed greater numbers of
converts and began to move into the more isolated interior
villages, the persecution often became physical. Often
inspired by the village priest, fanatical mobs attacked
missionaries and their followers and pelted their homes
and churches with stones. The missionary letters from
those days best describe the situation. A Presbyterian
worker in Rio Grande do Norte wrote in 1887:
Tomorrow I expect to go to Baturite. Since my last trip, my lay helper had been there twice, and our little congregation is consolidated and persecuted. News comes today that I am to be attacked. I hope that it may not be so. I try to be prudent, but I do not see what else I can do but go. I cannot be more prudent unless I pack up and leave the country. Everywhere opposition is increasing.91
Persecution was common to all the denominations'
missionaries. Reports to the foreign missions boards were
often filled with descriptions of stonings and threats of
death. Presbyterian missionary George Butler vividly re-
counted the persecutions in a report:
91 b . d 4 4 . . Th M. . 1 2 0 I 1 ., p. , c1t1ng e 1ss1onary, vo • , p. 10.
67
Twice the worship was closed and once the workers were compelled to flee for life. Then commenced a persecution which lasted nearly a year and took the form of stoning houses, and all conceivable little annoyances, even to stealing and breaking up of the material for a church building ..• Following these petty annoyances came an epidemic of yellow fever, lasting five months, and although the Lord saved all the believers, still the hearing of woes of others, and seeing their dead, made us all feel that we were in the very midst of the plagues of Egypt. Just as we began to think we had gotten to a resting place, an attempt at taking my life resulted in the stabbing and immediate killing of my companion at my side. He was wounded through the right lung, and before I [Butler was a physician] could open his clothes to find the wound, all his blood was spilled for Christ's sake and for me.92
Despite all the persecutions, the attacks of yellow
fever, and the shortage of trained workers, the Presbyterian
church was firmly established by the end of Dom Pedro's
reign in 1889. "Northern" and "southern" Presbyterians
had agreed to join together in 1888 to form the Synod of
Brazil. In the Synod's four Presbyteries (Rio de Janeiro,
Campinas, West Minas, and Pernambuco) there were twelve
Brazilian ministers and twenty missionaries. Over three
thousand communicant members and almost fifteen hundred
non-communicant members were counted on the roles of the
church--making secure the Presbyterians' first foothold
in Brazil.
92Ibid., p. 52, citing 37th Annual Report, p. 27.
CHAPTER VI
CONCLUSIONS
The success of the Protestants during Dom Pedro's
reign was, indeed, "astonishing.'' The missionaries had
preached the Gospel throughout the country--from Amazonas
to Rio Grande do Sul. Dozens of small congregations,
thousands of converts, several schools and seminaries
attested to the dedicated efforts of the first Methodist,
Presbyterian, Congregational, Baptist, and German Lutheran
workers. Although Brazil was clearly still a Roman Cath
olic country, the Protestants' presence and influence was
growing.
The Protestants had made good progress for several
reasons. Dom Pedro's liberal, inquiring character and his
strong desire to promote immigration assured the Protestants
of the Emperor's welcome. The problems within the Roman
Catholic Church hampered any strong, completely effective
opposition to the Crown's permission for the missionaries'
entry. Not only was their political and spiritual status
at a low ebb, the Catholics simply needed more priests.
"Catholicism gave souls the need for faith, a fervant
religious life, and morality, but
68
• lacking priests,
69
the Church could not always satisfy this need to nourish
and educate Christian feeling." 93 The Protestants were
ready to fill this need.
While the missionaries eagerly raced throughout
the country to spread the Gospel, new Brazilian converts
were forced to shoulder a large part of the responsibility
for and the work of the new Protestant churches. Native
ministers, evangelists, and colporteurs necessarily pro-
vided the sole leadership in many areas. This situation
was helpful in assuring an enduring Brazilian foundation
for a church which had had its beginnings as a "foreign
import."
With conditions so favorable, however, the question
might be asked, Why was not still greater progress made?
Some of the limitations on the success of the missionaries
have been discussed previously. The persecution by non-
Protestants and the decimating battles with yellow fever
obviously hurt missionary efforts. Money and workers were
never abundant and often were stretched too thinly over
94 the vast country. Mission groups were sometimes in
93Bastide, "Religion and the Church," p. 349.
94The depressed financial situation in the United States in the 1870s was not the only reason that Brazilian missionaries did not have all the money they desired. The eagerness of the home churches to open new work in other fields around the world (China and Japan, in the case of the Presbyterian churches) , meant that less funds for Brazilian efforts were available.
70
disagreement as to where available funds should be spent--
in evangelistic or educational endeavors? in the interior
or in the coastal cities?
Undoubtedly, the apathy of many Brazilians toward
any spiritual message (whether Protestant or Roman Catholic)
prevented greater Protestant success. The methods used by
the missionaries, however, may have discouraged even many
would-be converts. Too often British and American workers
tried to transplant their native ways of worship, without
modifying them for a completely different people and
nation. Direct translations of the worship liturgies into
Portuguese were not always entirely successful. The imag-
ery (e.g ... whiter than snow 11) and the style and rhythm of
the hymns often sounded stiff and foreign to Brazilian
ears. Some of the Brazilians must have asked (as one has
today) ,
In what way could one incorporate, into the religious service, into the liturgy, into the hymns, our language, and our rhythm? To what degree are the cultural aspects of European and North American protestantism incompatible with our style and the nature of the Latin American man?95
95waldo A. c6sar, Protestantismo e Imperialismo na Am~rica Latina (Petropolis, Rio de Janeiro: Edit5ra Vozes Limitada, 1968), p. 82. Translation of: 11 De que forma se poderia incorporar, no culto, na sua liturgia, e nos seus hinos, a nossa linguagem, eo nosso ritmo? At~ que ponto os tra9os culturais do protestantismo europeo e norteamericana sao incompatfveis com o nosso estilo e com a natureza do homen latino-americano? ..
71
Probably the worst error of the missionaries and
a great hindrance to progress was the obsession which many
Protestants had against Roman Catholicism. One Protestant
missionary delivered this vehement judgment against his
"rivals":
[The moral results of Romanism] have been graphically described by the Apostle Paul in the last twelve verses of the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. Not one word of that tremendous indictment need be changed in reference to Brazil; and doubtless the same is true in relation to all the countries where Romanism prevails. It is amazing to hear men who have access to the Word of God and the facts of history, and of the actual state of the world, attempt to apologize for, or even defend, Romanism. Romanism is not Christian-ity. . . There is not an essential truth of the Christian religion which is not distorted, covered up, neutralized, poisoned and completely nullified by the doctrines and practices of the Romish system.96
Some interested listeners were no doubt shocked
and alienated by the missionaries who routinely preached
the errors of Catholicism, rather than the love of Jesus.
Many Brazilians who perhaps were only "lukewarm" in their
Catholic faith were no doubt roused to a strong allegiance
when the Church was attacked so strongly. An astute
observer from England commented on the problem:
Unfortunately, many of our own Church [Anglican] and Protestants who labour among Roman Catholics are often eager to instruct, beginning with violent abuse of the Roman Church rather than educating their hearers by enlarging on the truths they have been taught and instilling the doctrines
96 . . 117 Brown, Lat~n Amer~ca, p. .
of the Guspel, leaving the truth to work, as Elisha did with Naaman. Therefore, such teachers are spoken against by the ecclesiastical authorities, and the people refuse to listen.97
72
Despite the problems they encountered and the mis-
takes they made, the Protestants survived and prospered.
But what was the result of their success on Dam Pedro?
What did he gain from his support?· Did he act in a wise
manner politically? To answer, Dam Pedro did gain sub-
stantially from his encouragement for the Protestants and
his promotion of religious toleration. Immigrants, una-
fraid of religious persecution, came to Brazil and brought
with them new sources of labor, skills, and technology.
The missionaries themselves aided particularly in the field
of education. Not only did they start and fund schools,
they also were often the ones to awaken a desire in the
uneducated to learn to read. Their new Protestant converts
wanted to read the Bible for themselves; schools had to be
organized to teach the illiterate.
Historian Richard Graham also gives the Protestants
credit for aiding the initial moves toward modernization
which Dam Pedro sought for Brazil. The Protestant contri-
bution was made in two ways: emphasis upon individualism
and support for the progressive secularization of society.
97Dent, A Y 279 ear, p. .
73
Brazil was being transformed and the Protestants were part of that transformation. Through their belief in the individual, through their isolation from the otherwise traditional culture, through their break with old relationships--especially compadresco--and through their new regard for the place of women they were unmistakably linked to the process of modernization.98
Politically, Dom Pedro's actions were probably not
helpful to his own cause. The hierarchy of the Roman Cath-
olic Church, traditionally his ally, could not have been
very pleased with the Emperor's tolerance and open support
for religious freedom and Protestant work. The Church
leaders certainly had not been pleased with his stand on
the "Religious Question."
The evidence that the Church abandoned the Crown,
however, is disputed. Many historians believe that Pedro's
less than total support for the Church was one of the main
reasons for his downfall in November of 1889. Clarence
Haring (following in Percy Martin's line of reasoning)
cites the "disregard by the throne of the privileges and
immunities claimed by the state religion" as one of four
key reasons for the collapse of the Empire. 99 He has sup-
port for this view from both American and Brazilian
98Graham, Britain, pp. 296-97.
99Haring, Empire, p. 144. Haring's other three reasons were: (1) the abandonment of agricultural interests through the emancipation of slaves, without compensation to slave owners, (2) the scarcely restrained insubordination and class pride of the armed forces, and (3) the subversive propaganda of the republicans.
74
historians. Dom Pedro's biographer Mary W. Williams
agreed: "Another important conservative element in the
population, which might have given strong support to the
100 throne, had been estranged... Brazilian historian
Heitor Lyra says that the Church, considering itself
persecuted, became disinterested in the monarchy:
The church became disinterested in the Monarchy, . not concerned at all for its [the monarchy's]
fortune or its destiny, and abstained, for this reason, from defending it when [the church] saw [the monarchy] threatened by the republicans.
And not only did [the church] not defend [the monarchy], [the church] did not even lament the monarchy's fate when it saw it prostrate on November 15 [1889].101
On the other side, George C. A. Boehrer argues
that despite Dom Pedro's support of the Protestants and
the Crown's quarrel with the Church over the bishops, the
Church "did not grow cool to the monarchy, but that it
. 1 d . ..102 act~ve y supporte ~t. Boehrer points out that the
Church had no assurance that it would be better treated
by the Republicans: "Sometimes, indeed, reading the
Republican press it becomes difficult to know whether
100~-Jilliams, Dom Pedro, p. 288.
101Lyra, Hist6ria da Queda, p. 236. Translation of: "A igreja passou a desinteressar-se da Monarquia,
• nao lhe importando em nada a sus sorte ou 0 seu destine, e abstendo-se, por isso, de defende-la quando a viu ameayada pelos republicanos. E n~o somente nao a defendeu nero sequer lamentou a sua sorte, quando a viu por terra em 15 de Novernbro."
102Boehrer, "The Brazilian Republican Revolution," p. 51.
75
the Monarchy or the Church was the principal enerny ... 103
Had the monarchy continued the Church could have looked
forward to the succession to the throne of Darn Pedro's
daughter Isabel, a firm and devout Catholic believer.
Boehrer says that for this reason it was in the Church's
best interest to support the monarchy. 11 The fact that,
largely due to an expected combination of Catholics and
Positivists 1n the Constitution Convention, the Church's
position was substantially improved under the Republic
has misled historians ... 104
If the Church supported Pedro (as Boehrer main-
tains), it lost no time after his downfall in disowning
him. In a letter signed by the entire Brazilian episco-
pate, the Archbishop of Bahia declared:
We have just witnessed a spectacle which filled the universe with astonishment; one of those events by which the Almighty when it is pleasing unto Him, teaches tremendous lessons to peoples and kings; a throne suddenly precipitated into the abyss which dissolvent principles, flourishing in its vefY shadow, had during a few years dug for it.lOS
Were the Protestants, therefore, in some measure
responsible for Pedro's downfall? While not in active
103Ibid., p. 50.
104Ibid.
105Percy Alvin Martin, 11 Causes of the Collapse of the Brazilian Empire, .. The Hispanic American Historical Review 4 (February, 1921); p. 14.
76
opposition to their royal friend, they surely provided
another reason for the Roman Catholics' displeasure with
the Emperor. When the Republic was proclaimed, Dam Pedro
was in exile, traveling to Portugal. The Protestants, on
the other hand, were in Brazil--to stay.
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