Em busca da “freira do Santo Cristo” os bastidores da primeira biografia de Madre Teresa da Anunciada, OSC (1658-1738)

Abstract

The first biography of Teresa of Annunciation (1658-1738), a famous Poor Clare of the Monastery of Nossa Senhora da Esperança in Ponta Delgada, is recognised as a major source in the crystallisation of the opinion of virtue of the biographee and in the promotion of the cult of the Holy Christ,of which she was the most impressive promoter. Symptomatically nicknamed the “Book of the Holy Christ”, this copy of the devotional biography, signed by the oratorian José Clemente and published in 1763, may be understood as part of the process of canonical authorisation of the nun’s holiness, although it should itself be seen as the result of a constructive process in which various intentions, wills, mentors and actors took part. It is this process which, based essentially on unpublished sources, namely the epistolary correspondence exchanged between the 4th Countess of Ribeira Grande and some nuns from the Monastery of Esperança, the present study intends to examine, and which lastly aims to contribute to the analysis of the figure of the illustrious mother and the expressions of piety that have always been associated with her.