Entre a moralidade e o desejo: sodomitas sob o jugo do santo ofício da inquisição entre 1763 e 1769

Abstract

The analysis of social relations, morality and sexuality in historical societies reveals complex issues that allow for several research networks. And it is in this scenario that this work fits in, seeking to analyze issues related to sexuality in Pará society during the colonial period, verifying such issues based on the processes related to the Holy Office of the Inquisition during its visit to the State of Grão-Pará and Maranhão, in the second half of the 18th century. The importance of this study becomes evident when we consider how the subjects experienced different sexual behaviors, seen as immoral, and how the repressive conducts towards these behaviors were constructed historically. Thus, it permeates the historical moral and sexual trajectory. Throughout the historical formation of Brazil, we have had a series of actions by the Court of the Holy Office of Lisbon in these lands. In the context of the visit to Grão-Pará, the dynamics of civility and morality presented themselves as summary elements in the configuration of interactions between individuals and social groups in this State. Therefore, we discuss the codes of conduct and civility established by authorities and institutions in their regulations and legislation, debating their impact on daily life beyond the metropolises, highlighted in their actions in the colonies. We seek to explore the notions of sodomy, conceptions of sin and immorality, and the different ways in which these subjects (re)interpreted such codes in their daily lives. To carry out this work, we use as a primary source the documents listed within the scope of the Inquisitorial court, which are fully digitized and can be accessed on the online platform of the National Archive of the Torre do Tombo in Lisbon. Due to the practicalities of research and the particularities that permeate the work of the historian and researcher of the 18th century, this work uses the transcriptions of these documents that were carried out by José Roberto do Amaral Lapa in his Book of Visitation of the Tribunal of the Holy Office to the State of Grão-Pará (1763-1763), in which several cases that were taken to the Inquisitor's Table are present, including the cases studied in this research, related to the nefarious sin of sodomy, carrying out case studies of procedural documents, together with the existing bibliography on the subject. By investigating the moralizing discourses of the time, through the laws and regulations in force, we can see how such precepts were structured and ended up reflecting on the daily lives of people in this region, resulting in a series of confessions and complaints to the Inquisitorial Board, such as the sodomite cases of Feliciana de Lira Barros, Felipe Jacob Batalha, Frei Manoel do Rozario and Francisco Serrão de Castro, which unfold from this perspective of distinct sexual practices and judged in a period in which diverging from what was considered official brought them to the presence of the Inquisition. Through this study, we hope to contribute to a critical reflection on the historical construction of moralities, sexualities and their impacts on the daily lives of individuals in Grão-Pará during the second half of the 18th century.