The Presence of Azpilcueta’s Manual de Confessores in Portuguese America (16th to 18th Centuries)

What is it about?

This chapter aims to map the circulation of Martín de Azpilcueta’s Manual de Confessores in Brazil from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. In order to undertake a general survey on the possession and circulation of the Manual in that period, a vast assortment of sources was examined. One of the earliest records of written culture produced in Brazil can be attributed to Jesuitical letters sent by Jesuit missionaries. In these epistolary documents, exchanged around the mid-sixteenth century, can be found probably the first evidence of the Manual in Brazilian soil. Confessional literat- ure had particularly utility for the missions of evangelization in colonial spaces and to the proper performance of this sacrament among Christians. This explains the posses- sion of the title by priests and by bishops, as post mortem inventories show. By the same token, its presence in conventual library collections was required, as some catalogues of Franciscan and Jesuitic libraries testify. Preliminary findings demonstrate that Azpilcueta’s Manual indeed circulated in different regions of Portuguese America along the centuries, yet its presence in the shelves of institutional and private libraries was shared with other competing titles of the confessional literature. By the eighteenth century, the appearance of the title in the historic records decreases severely, while new confessional books replace it. In any case, the importance of Azpilcueta’s Manual is attested for its persistence along three centuries assisting the regulation of colonial life in Brazil.

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Why is it important?

• The article provides a comprehensive examination of the circulation of Martín de Azpilcueta's Manual de Confessores in Brazil from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. • The article suggests that confessional literature, including Azpilcueta's Manual, played a crucial role not only in the missions of evangelization in colonial spaces, but more generally in the dynamics of colonial everyday life. • The article traces the evolution of confessional literature in Brazil, noting the decline in the presence of Azpilcueta's Manual in the eighteenth century and the emergence of new confessional books. Understanding the shifts in the popularity and usage of confessional literature over time helps historians and scholars appreciate the dynamics of religious thought and practice in the region during this three-century period.