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The Trial of the Ecclesiastics in the Inconfidência Mineira*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
Extract
No Chapter in Brazilian history has received more attention or is better known in all its details than the story of the “Inconfidência Mineira.” Nor has any theme been the subject of more partisan study or greater disagreement.
Innumerable documents pertaining to the topic have long been known and studied, discussed and published, both in Brazil and Portugal. These range from the correspondence between Thomas Jefferson and José Joaquim da Maia, to the work known as “The Last Moments of Tiradentes, by the friar who assisted him as confessor,” attributed to Frei Raimundo de Penaforte. In Brazil alone we may refer to the seven volumes of the “Autos de Devassas da Inconfidência” in the Arquivo Público; the two large volumes of the Manuscript Division of the Biblioteca Nacional; the documents in the Historical Section of the Arquivo Público, and those in the Arquivo Público of Minas Gerais. There are many published documents to be found scattered throughout journals and reviews, such as the documents edited by Melo Morais in Brasil Histórico, by Barão Homem de Melo in the Revista do Instituto Histórico Brasileiro, by Melo de Moares Filho in the Arquivo do Distrito Federal, and many others. Many eminent historians, from Joaquim Norberto de Sousa e Silva to Lúcio José dos Santos, have given to the matter their most careful attention.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1950
Footnotes
*
This article has been developed from an address given at the Palácio da Independência, Lisbon, April 2, 1949.
References
1 Santos, Lúcio José dos, A Inconfidencia Mineira—Papel de Tiradentes na Inconfidencia Mineira (São Paulo: Escolas Professionais do Liceu Coração de Jesus, 1927), 49–57.Google Scholar
2 Autos de Devassa da Inconfidência Mineira (Rio de Janeiro: Biblioteca Nacional, 1936–1938, 7 vols.), Vol. I, p. xv. This is an official publication of the Ministry of Education.
3 Cf.Pombo, Manuel Ruela, O Brasil Colonial—Inconfidencia Mineira (Luanda, 1932), 7ff.Google Scholar
4 “Autos crimes contra os réus eclesiásticos da Inconfidência Mineira” (toward the end of the volume).
5 Cf. Lúcio José dos Santos, op. cit., 94–96.
6 Ibid., 17.
7 Lapa, Rodrigues, Tomás Antonio Gonzaga. Marília de Dirceu e Mais Poesias (Lisbon: Sá da Costa, 1937), xvii–xviii.Google Scholar
8 Southey, Robert, História do Brasil (trans, by Castro, Luiz Joaquim de Oliveira e) (Rio de Janeiro: B. L. Garnier, 1862), VI, 293.Google Scholar
9 Ibid., 294.
10 Lapa, op. cit., xii.
11 dos Santos, op. cit., 74.
12 Ibid., 117 ff.
13 Ibid., 137.
14 Ibid., 408.
15 Ibid., 409 ff.
16 About the imprisonment of Gonzaga, Lapa (op. cit., xxii) says: “There can be no doubt about Gonzaga’s arrest on May 21 and not on the 23rd as is commonly said. This point is taken from several very important papers relating to the Inconfidencia Mineira which are kept in the Arquivo Histórico Colonial. On May 21 Barbacena informed the Viceroy that he had ordered Gonzaga taken prisoner, and on that same day he directed Dr. Araujo Saldanha to seize his papers and to sequester his goods just as soon as he received the word from Lieutenant Colonel Francisco António Rebelo. The sequestration, however, was not carried out until the 23rd. The error as to the date of the arrest of Gonzaga comes from the testimony of António Xavier de Rezende, given on January 13, 1790. It was he who said that Gonzaga was arrested on May 23, confusing the dates of the arrest and the sequestration.”
17 p. 540.
18 Vol. VI, p. 723.
19 Vol. I, p. xv.
20 Op. cit., 540.
21 História do Brasil, Vol. VI, p. 723.
22 Autos de Devassa da Inconfidência Mineira, preface, p. xv.
23 dos Santos, op. cit., 540.
24 Op. cit., Vol. I, p. xv.
25 Op. cit., 563.
26 Ibid., 599.
27 Cf.de Holanda, Guy, “Nota prévia sobre as origens ideológicos da Inconfidência Mineira,” in Congresso do Mundo Português, Vol. XI, p. 23.Google Scholar
28 Cf.Mota, Leonardo, “Capistrano de Abreu anedótico,” in Revista do Instituto do Ceará, Vol. LXI, pp. 55 ff.;Google Scholar and Dolor Barreira, “Porque não escreveu Capistrano de Abreu a História do Brasil?”, ibid., Vol. LVII, p. 223.
29 Ibid.
30 Guy de Holanda, op. cit., 22 ff.
31 This was the case notably with Tomás Antonio Gonzaga. In Mozambique he lived in the home of Dr. José da Costa Dias Barros, the General Councilor, and acted as his secretary. He married a wealthy lady, and successfully practiced law—he was the only lawyer with a degree in the city—amassing a considerable fortune. In time he became Procurator of the Crown and of the Treasury (exceedingly lucrative posts), and Judge of the Customs. His death occurred in February, 1810 (cf. Lapa, op. cit., xi ff.).
Maciel was commissioned by the government to install an iron-smelting unit in Angola, in the Province of Ilamba.
Freire de Andrade in time obtained permission to return to Brazil.
José de Rezende Costa was made aide to the Government Secretariate in 1793, and became Secretary of the Patent in 1795. In the following year he was appointed Scribe of the Royal Treasury, an appointment which was confirmed by a decree of the Prince Regent on October 25, 1797. In 1802 he was given the command of the Fortress of Vila da Praia, as Captain-Major of the Fort of Santo António. He was sent as a Deputy to the Court of Lisbon by the Province of Minas Gerais in 1821, and was likewise a Deputy to the Constitutional Congress of Brazil in 1827.
The churchmen, too, for the most part returned to Brazil, and Padre Manuel Rodrigues da Costa lived to see its eventual emancipation (cf. Lúcio José dos Santos, op. cit., 529–545).