Anchieta's writing – Sacred and profane in portuguese America

Abstract

During the second half of the 16^th century, the newly proclaimed saint of the Catholic Church resorted to the appropriation of the indigenous “pagan” vocabulary in order to convey the Catholic faith to native Brazilians and, taking advantage of the notions of sacred and profane in a rather literary construction, raised them from the condition of savages to sons of God, thus resembling the “white man”. The methodology used here is the reading and analysis of Anchieta's theatrical work supported by historical, political and religious contextualization. As a result, it is argued that his plays had a humanizing character through which it was possible to provoke an awakening of consciousness (at least religious) in his audience. Based on the analyse is of his theatrical literary production and aiming to have an honest look at its production, this article seeks to show that more than just a counter-reformist anticipation or form of cultural aggression, its literature is in some respects humanizing (in the reading of the time) and, by Ignatian molds, giver of meaning.