Vigilância, distinção & honra: os familiares do Santo Ofício na Freguesia de Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Guarapiranga – Minas Gerais (1753-1801)

Abstract

Interdicted limit between the so-called "civilization" and "uneducated people", the parish of Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Guarapiranga, agricultural frontier zone in Termo de Mariana during the mid-eighteenth century, was a very convenient place to steady differences and outsource hierarchies, and we saw that the potentially fine men of the locality - Portuguese, and minimally wealthy whites - sought, among other means, the qualification as “Familiares do Santo Ofício” to have a prestigious position guaranteed. We consider the qualification a strategy for social mobility, which served them as an important step in the hierarchy climb-up, where uniting purity of blood and material wealth was the way to penetrate the core of the local elites. The post of “Familiar do Santo Ofício” served, therefore, as an attribute for ascending in a society that in the mid-eighteenth century was in the process of rooting. By reconstituting the relational space of our characters, we found that the reciprocity networks that they wove with respectable men of the town - even with other inquisitorial agents and members of the local ecclesiastical structure - before applying for the position, were indispensable for them to achieve the position of secular officials of the Holy Office. Finally, we followed our characters’ paths after they had acquired the post of “Familiares do Santo Ofício” and we realized that the inquisitorial patent was longed to meet different expectations and realities of each of our characters, but in general, the appointment was an important contributor to open doors for the conquer titles and patents of greater prestige.