DYNAMICS OF AN EMPIRE: markers of distinction in the formation of the native clergy in Portuguese Asia (16th-17th centuries)

Abstract

This study aims to understand how the formation of the native clergy in Portuguese Asia occurred. It considers a set of parameters of inclusion and exclusion applied to this local priestly body, which was integrated into the Portuguese imperial framework between the 16th and 17th centuries. In the context of global Catholic expansion, the training and quality of the local clergy were particularly significant, even though the preference for evangelizing and missionary work predominantly fell to European priests. We intend to analyze how native priests were subordinated to classificatory categories that justified and shaped a complex system of hierarchy and social distinction among the priests that acted in Asia. These clergymen sought, at different times, to establish strategies of action and integration within the political and religious framework of Portuguese power. We observed that, despite the restrictions and prejudices they faced, members of the native clergy played an active role in confronting the hegemony of the European clergy in the evangelization processes of local populations.