Education for the discipline of faith: the Roman Catholicism construction in Ceará (1867 - 1920)

Abstract

The Romanization process of Ceará State occurred under the catholic education politics influence. Romanize, at that time, meant more than affirming the orthodoxy of faith, in other words to discipline the cult, the popular devotions and the organization of the non religious person. In that sense, the creation of the Diocesan Seminar of Fortaleza (at Prainha) will be built in the generating core of the whole disciplining process. Starting from then, priests became aligned with the Roman hierarchy, breaking, like this, the ideological bonds with the patronage regime. Still, the substitution of the old Catholic fraternities for the assisting societies (like São Vicente Society) disorganizes the autonomous performance of those who were the non religious, subordinating them to the diocesan hierarchy. Besides the Catholic schools and an entire range of instruments, the bishops’ daily pressure on the old devotion practices transforms the Catholicism in Ceará State, in spite of the devotional Catholicism resistance, of messianic aspects. Keywords: Romanization. Catholic education. Fraternities. Diocesan Seminar of Fortaleza. Patronage regime, messianic.