Entre coroados e coropós: a trajetória do padre Manuel de Jesus Maria nos sertões do Rio da Pomba (1731-1811)

Abstract

The present study focus on Priest Manoel de Jesus Maria (1731-1811) individual trajectory, son of a slave with a portuguese, responsible for the Christianization of the Coropós, Coroados, Puris and Bocayús Indians at the former Freguesia do Mártir São Manoel do Rio da Pomba e do Peixe, a region of today’s Zona da Mata, Minas Gerais. We believe that starting from the religious biographic delineation, we come close to a comprehension of major issues related to his time and to his society, as the running of the services and rewards dynamics between the center and the periphery at the Iberian world; the relationship between the State and the Church in the transition of the called centuries; the confrontation, discussion and the search for a solution for the indigenous issues; the Church Organization after the Jesuits’ banishment; and, mainly, the existing contradictions and conflicts between the institutional world of norms and rules and the ordinary and real world of shared costumes and practices.