Santidade e malefício: um caso de possessão diabólica em Ourém (Brasil) no século XIX

Abstract

This article is a study of the «Acts of Inquiry in the lawsuit», in which the person accused is the priest Jose Maria Fernandes (Ourém, 1860). These law-suits allow us to recover a part of the mistic universe of Brazilian society in the 19th century. In these law-suits, we find old beliefs that are common to the European culture, in which prevails what have been analized (secular justice and eclesiastic justice), describe scenes that go since demoniac possessions until the practice of exorcism, expressing the traditional fight between good and evil; and it explains the behaviour of men when facing what is sacred or profane. Through the testemony found in these law-suits, we realize a reality deeply involved with faith and with magic, and this characterizes a population influenced by superstition and the catholic doctrine.