Portuguese Church Research Articles

Component-based flood vulnerability modelling for cultural heritage buildings

Flooding is among the most common and damaging natural hazards at the global level, which has prompted governments and international institutions to adopt measures towards the reduction of flood risk. Among them is the development of flood risk assessments and flood risk management plans with a particular emphasis on cultural heritage, not only due to its significance for society but also because of its particularly high vulnerability. In order to quantify flood risk and define prioritization and management plans for a given set of cultural heritage assets, vulnerability models that allow estimating and comparing the impacts of floods at an asset-by-asset level are required. However, there is currently a lack of approaches in the literature to achieve this. This study proposes a synthetic, component-based modelling framework to perform detailed vulnerability analyses of cultural heritage buildings, including their contents. The framework combines an assessment of the flood susceptibility of each building component, based on its type of material or technique, and a simple evaluation of its relative value within the asset, in order to define asset-specific flood vulnerability functions. These may then be used to support semi-quantitative probabilistic flood risk assessments for multiple exposed assets. The framework is illustrated through an application to two Portuguese churches.

Expanding the Mystical Body of Christ and Serving the Empire: Colonial Geopolitics of the Portuguese and Spanish Catholic Church (1933-1975)

ABSTRACT This paper explores the geopolitical imagination of the Catholic Church, particularly in relation to the former colonies of Portugal and Spain during the late imperial period (1930–1975). At that time, authoritarian dictators with strong Catholic ideology ruled both countries. However, the relationship between the Catholic missionaries and the colonial authorities of the Iberian imperial states was not always in harmony. There were sometimes contradictions between them. The geopolitics of the Catholic Church and the colonial geopolitics of the Iberian states were convergent but not always coincident. This paper describes and analyses the Spanish and Portuguese states’ policies towards the missions. It also studies the missionary discourse in the metropolis, and its impact and reflection in the colonies.

La Iglesia portuguesa y la Guerra civil española entre el Franquismo y el Salazarismo: prensa y propaganda (1936-1939)

The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) had important political, social, and economic consequences for Portugal, whose government acted as if the Spanish war was a national affair. Salazar believed that to consolidate his authoritarian Novo State regime it was necessary to help change Spain's political course. In this context of support for Franco's regime, the Portuguese Church and all the Catholic media, including the newspaper A Voz, legitimised the coup d'etat in Spain and organised campaigns to raise funds and food destined for Franco's territory.

El papel del clero en el cambio dinástico en Portugal (1378-1388)

Spanning the last years of Fernando I’s reign to the Anglo-Castilian agreement (1388) which concluded the Iberian period of the Hundred Years War, this article provides an in depth analysis of the role of the Portuguese clergy during the initial years of the Western Schism. Based on (Portuguese and non Portuguese) official chronicles, combined with documents from the royal Portuguese and Papal chanceries, the paper tackles the subject by taking a critical approach to the official historiographical interpretation and by considering the final decisions taken by the Crown. All the protagonists of the Portuguese Church are identified and classified by social category. The actions of the high ecclesiastical echelons, of the secular and regular clergy, and of the military orders are studied, as well as the political support (or opposition) they received.

Liturgic emphasis, dramaturgy, identity of power and episcopal jurisdiction (XVIth-XVIIIth centuries)

Based on two biographical records of the archbishop of Braga, Fr. Augustin of Jesus, the study aims to consider an intense moment of manifestation and recognition of the identity of episcopal power and jurisdiction in Portugal. Centered on the inedited solemn ceremony of the imposition of the pallium, the distinctive band attributed to archbishops and primates, this paper is articulated in five paragraphs. The first one deals with the recent historiography of political ceremonies within the framework of the Portuguese Church and its hierarchies, namely episcopal entries. The second contextualizes the different sources written between the XVIth -XVIIth centuries, and their authors. The third part outlines a brief profile of the archbishop, promoted in the early years of Hapsburg dynasty to the main Portuguese Church. The fourth considers the unusual stop at the Convent of Christ, in Tomar, to attend the distinctive vestment awarding ceremony. The latter part aims to indicate the physiological/psychological reactions of the protagonist of powerful liturgy.

Gessoes in Portuguese Baroque gilding grounds, part 1: A study of historical documentary sources

The surviving gilded and polychrome altarpieces and sculptures in Portuguese churches, and the historical documents relating to them, offer an opportunity for understanding material and technological choices regarding gesso grounds. This paper focuses on the historical documentary research about gessoes — one aspect of a wider research project which also involved investigation of physical/chemical evidence, and archaeological reconstructions of gilded gesso grounds. Documentary research sheds light on the meaning of the terms used in historical documents, and on artists’ choice of materials and practices, production, and trade patterns of materials. It informs technological investigations and conservation decisions. The paper also stresses the importance of the evidence gained by using the historical and archaeological methodology applied in material culture studies, in which documentary, analytical, and experimental information complement and/or elucidate each other, leading to a comprehensive understanding of this technology.

On performing practices in mid- to late 16th-century Portuguese church music: the cappella of Évora Cathedral

On performing practices in mid- to late 16th-century Portuguese church music: the cappella of Évora Cathedral

Introduction

Portuguese Studies vol. 31 no. 2 (2015), 148–52© Modern Humanities Research Association 2015 Introduction Cláudia Pazos Alonso and Claire Williams University of Oxford This issue, devoted to medieval and early modern studies, is dedicated to our dear colleague and friend Stephen Parkinson, to mark his retirement in September 2015. The cast of contributors gathered here comprises a range of colleagues in the field of Portuguese studies, many closely linked with Oxford and Stephen himself, including some former and current students. Portugal is one of the countries in Europe with the oldest stable frontiers, dating back to the twelfth century. The present issue takes us from just prior to the formation of the Portuguese nation, formalized in 1143 at the Treaty of Zamora, through to the sixteenth century, a century closely associated with the Age of the Discoveries,butwherethemedievallegacyremains visibly present in genres such as historiography.1 The articles are arranged in a broadly chronological order. They showcase a variety of topics, warranting different critical methodologies and approaches: literary and historical analysis, a focus on visual culture, the critical fortunes of medieval manuscripts, and the diachronic development of the Portuguese language across the centuries. Last but not least, they highlight the need for editions of early modern material. The thirteenth century occupies a significant place in the current volume, in a fitting tribute to Stephen Parkinson, who retained a well-documented predilection for this period throughout his career. Indeed, thanks to Stephen’s monumental and ongoing online project on the Cantigas de Santa Maria, greater familiarity with this seminal compilation is only one click away, for the uninitiated and experts alike (). Most recently, he has edited an anthology of Cantigas de Santa Maria: Alfonso X, the Learned (MHRA, 2015) which gathers in one volume over forty poems, in a bilingual edition. When it came to choosing a cover image for this themed volume of Portuguese Studies, therefore, it made perfect sense to choose a suitable illustration from the vast range in the manuscripts of Cantigas de Santa Maria. We hope that the one we settled on,2 pretty much straightaway, mirrors the 1 Given that the medieval period encompasses several centuries, many treasures of Portuguese literature could not be surveyed in the current issue. For further information about such gems as the secular cantigas of various types, the chronicles of Fernão Lopes and, straddling the medieval and Renaissance worlds, the plays of Gil Vicente, we refer our readers to a collaborative volume, spearheaded by Stephen and other colleagues in the sub-faculty of Portuguese at Oxford, the Companion to Portuguese Literature (2009, paperback edition 2013). 2 The illustration belongs to Cantiga 194 in the El Escorial manuscript (Real Biblioteca del Monasterio, Introduction 149 aura that Stephen as a teacher was able to project: that of an experienced tutor, who generated a happy and supportive learning environment and effortlessly captivated the attention of the eager disciples surrounding him, thanks to the magic of the music he produced — seemingly entirely off-the-cuff, for there are no scores in sight! The volume opens with an article by the Oxford-based historian-cumadministrator Stephen Lay, who explores the period immediately preceding the independence of the condado portucalense from the kingdoms of Leon and Castile, through an analysis of the Vita Sancti Geraldi. Bernard’s hagiographic account of the life of his close friend, Gerald, not only provides us with the biography of a holy man but also stands as an important historical source, allowing us to glimpse the cultural changes underway in Portuguese society in the context of the birth of a nation, seen from the perspective of two highranking French clerics. Charged with the task of modernizing the Portuguese church hierarchy, this account of their vicissitudes warrants revisiting, for, as Lay argues, it raises complex questions about power and legitimacy. In the second article, Kirstin Kennedy, a former doctoral student of Stephen Parkinson’s, and now a Curator at the Victoria & Albert Museum, considers the visual aspect of the códice rico. She brings out the significance of the minia­ tures that illustrate the songs in honour of the Virgin Mary, through an exami­ nation of how piety is shaped...

The Appointment of Bishops in Early-Modern Portugal (1495–1777)

The author explains the theoretical model that was used in early-modern Portugal for appointing bishops, based on original research of 505 episcopal appointments. The author argues that the model enabled monarchs to better control the prelates and consequently the Portuguese Church, which reinforced the power of the state over the spiritual sphere in the realm.

Ancient Portuguese Ceramic Wall Tiles (“Azulejos”): Characterization of the Glaze and Ceramic Pigments

Ancient ceramic wall tiles, called “azulejo”, firstly used on Portuguese churches, monasteries and palaces (15-18th century) have progressively been used in particular houses till the last century. These tiles and its use in huge decorative panels can be considered as a precious but fragile cultural heritage from Brazil to India, in several countries influenced by Portuguese culture. Morphologically, these tiles are composed by a porous clay-based ceramic body, the terracotta, covered by a protective glassy phase, the glaze. As artistic paintings, these murals incorporated various kinds of pigments in the glaze layer to create a pictorial impact on the walls of rich palaces or churches, real and durable monumental works-of-art. In the 21st century, degradation marks are visible on these ceramic tiles because of their use under corrosive conditions (moisture, atmospheric cycles…) along centuries. In order to promote their conservation and enhance their restoration, the physical-chemical characterization of the azulejos is performed in the present work, using mainly non-destructive processes like micro-Raman spectroscopy or X-Ray diffraction. In particular, Raman spectroscopy allows the detection of some nano/microcrystals present in the amorphous glaze due to pigments or opacifying agents or related to the elaboration process of the azulejo. Based on the observation of various selected fragments, one states that very few pigments have been used as colouring agents in this ceramic art during 17-18th centuries. Thus, the relationship between the different colours, the introduced pigments and the structural aspects of the glass will be focused. Some features related with the ancient ceramic technology will also be discussed.

Mineralogical study of the deterioration of granite stones of two Portuguese churches and characterization of the salt solutions in the porous network by the presence of diatoms

Two Portuguese churches were built with stones of different types of two-mica fine to coarse grained granites. The stones in both monuments were previously submitted to a natural weathering process in the quarries leading to a homogeneous and very well interconnected porous network composed of very thin fissures, allowing a fast capillary transfer of rain water and salt solutions. Therefore, the stones presently exhibit several types of stone decay. A mineralogical study of the deteriorations was carried out in the two churches that permitted the identification of several minerals of soluble salts responsible for stone decay. Some forms of diatoms have been identified in samples of deteriorated stones in both monuments. Several ions in the salt solutions present in the porous networks of the granites, which are in conformity with the minerals of soluble salts associated with the deterioration of the granite, permit the development of several forms of diatoms.

Between Empires and Emporia: The Economics of Christianization in Early Modern Southeast Asia

AbstractStudies of church connections to commercial interests in pre-nineteenth-century Southeast Asia have focused on the Catholic venture in the Spanish Philippines. This article uses a broader and more ecumenical framework to incorporate eastern Indonesia into this discussion by comparing the economic involvement of Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch missionaries and church personnel. It contextualizes differences in church resources, secular oversight, and motivation, but also argues that clerical involvement with European economic ambitions helped to mark out a path toward the domestication of local Christianity. The perception of foreign priests and ministers as conduits for exploitation encouraged many Southeast Asian Christians to differentiate between the teachings of the religion they had adopted and the ways these teachings had been distorted in support of European control.La recherche de l’Asie du Sud-Est pré-moderne touchant au rapprochement des relations de l’Église d’avec les intérêts commerciaux porte habituellement sur l’entreprise catholiques des Philippines espagnoles. Cette contribution par contre, a un cadre spatial plus vaste et au point de vue religion plus oecuménique. L’étude y inclut l’Indonésie orientale et elle compare la participation économique des missionaires et du clergé, tant espagnols, tant portuguais, tant hollandais. D‘un part les différences des ressources ecclésiales, la supervision des laïques et la motivation cléricale sont étudiées d’après leur contexte, d’autre part la participation du clergé imbu d’ambitions économiques européennes est aussi explorée parce qu‘elle a favorisé les modes locales du christianisme. C’est que l’image des prêtres et des pasteurs rapaces auprès les populations de l’Asie du Sud-Est stimulaient ces peuples à distinguer entre la religion adoptés par eux et la déformation de l’ínstruction religieuse du clergé qui visait à faciliter le contrôle européen.

Simplified indexes for the seismic vulnerability of ancient masonry buildings

This paper presents a contribution for the safety assessment of historical masonry buildings under seismic loading. Three different simplified safety indexes (in-plan area ratio, area to weight ratio and base shear ratio) are analyzed, taking into account a large sample of 58 Portuguese churches. The sample of buildings has been organized according to the seismic zonation, from high to low seismicity. The results indicate that valuable information can be obtained from simplified methods, with respect to performing a first screening and to prioritizing further, deeper investigations. A new proposal is made regarding the combined usage of two of the indexes.

São Gião de Nazaré (Portugal). Un tipo original de iglesia

La importancia científica de la iglesia portuguesa de São Gião de Nazaré, considerada como uno de los prototipos de la arquitectura visigoda peninsular del siglo VII, recomendaba un análisis arqueológico de su arquitectura complementario a la excavación del subsuelo y previo a los necesarios trabajos de restauración del edificio en amenaza de ruina. La lectura descubre una iglesia original de nave central con dos habitaciones altas a Oeste y Este, habitaciones laterales, iconostasis y ábside rectangular exento abovedado. Su estructura apenas varía hasta el momento de ruina y posterior transformación en casa labriega en el siglo XVIII. La adscripción cronológica de la iglesia, puesta en duda actualmente dentro de una problemática que afecta al conjunto de arquitectura tradicionalmente denominada visigoda, no se resuelve con la lectura, pero sí se enriquece con ella, al diferenciarse dos grupos decorativos, uno de piezas reutilizadas y otro de nueva talla. Este conjunto tallado ex profeso es ahora el indicador cronológico a seguir para fechar la iglesia original: para unos, de clara factura visigoda; para otros, asturiana.

BELIEVING WITHOUT BELONGING? SOME REFLECTIONS

have been asked to reflect on the various discussions that have gone on during this consultation, and to respond with some personal thoughts from the perspective of my work in mission, and what has been termed the process of inculturation of the church in India. This process, which was set in motion by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, addressed a new situation that had arisen after the second world war with the disintegration of important colonial empires and the rise of many new nation states. India was one significant example of this new. phenomenon. am myself very much a child of this independent India; was born in 1944 towards the end of the war, and just before India gained its freedom. The church in India had been very much associated with the colonial period. The typical church styles that we find in different places reflect the prevailing cultural forms of the colonialists. Thus, we have the Baroque style of the Portuguese churches in Goa, the imitation Gothic style which was favoured by the French in Pondicherry, or the typical British architecture which copied models designed in London by the architect Christopher Wren. There was very little to be found in the culture of Indian Christians that drew from artistic forms related to the great tradition of Indian art and architecture. In fact, the missionaries had rejected Indian imagery and visual symbolism as pagan or idolatrous. It is incarnational theology that underlies the idea of inculturation. The church, like the divine Word, has to be incarnated through a process of translation. However, there is also the idea of transfiguration, i.e. a risen Christ who, freed from the limitations of his Jewish cultural identity, can walk with his disciples to distant lands. The Christ who appears to India is the Jesus of history, but a cosmic Lord who transcends all cultural and historical limitations, and is on this account able to enter into all spiritual traditions. The problem that we are continually debating is one of identity. Who am I? This question relates only to my own personal, historical narrative but also, at a more profound level, to not I, but the Christ who lives in The questions which am asked are: Why do you represent Christ as an Was Jesus an These same questions were poignantly put in a somewhat different way by a Hindu who was scandalized by Peter Brooke's famous representation of the Mahabharata. There, a British person acted the lead role of Krishna. How is this possible? demanded my Hindu friend, who was living in Leicester, England at the time, Krishna was an Indian, a British national! This brought me with a jolt to my own identity. Am an Indian? True, have an Indian passport and an Indian name. But my Indian friend in Leicester, who worships the Lord Krishna, has a British passport. Some of us struggle with the question of whether we are Christian Hindus or Hindu Christians. Interestingly, there is nothing in Hinduism that would deny either possibility. Hinduism is defined by any credal formula. Even the Indian constitution does understand Hinduism as a confessional belief expressed in some creed. A Hindu is a person who belongs to India. remember the occasion when visited the sanctum sanctorum of the Madhurai temple, one of the greatest temples of South India. went with my father, and was anxious to see the central icons of the temple. The priest who stood at the door of this inner locus of the mystery asked, Are you a Hindu? My father immediately answered, I am a Hindu from Panjab, and this is my son. It was an important moment for me. had never been defined like that before, especially by my own father. Of course, he was speaking his truth and the Hindu priest was entirely satisfied. He was concerned with my personal God -- my Ishta Devata, or God of my choic e. He was even concerned with my family God, or Kula Devata. …

Analysis of subjective acoustic measures and speech intelligibility in Portuguese churches.

This study reports on subjective acoustical field measurements made in a survey of 36 Catholic churches in Portugal built in the last 14 centuries. The same group of college students were asked to judge the quality of speech and music at all the churches. Two sets of listeners in each church evaluated live music performance (cello and oboe) at two similar locations in each of the rooms using a seven-point semantic differential rating scale. An acoustical evaluation sheet was used to measure listeners overall impression of room acoustics qualities, and each of the factors that can contribute to that perception as loudness, reverberance, intimacy, envelopment, balance, clarity, echoes, and background noise. Speech intelligibility tests were also given to the same group in each church. One-hundred-word lists were used in live speech tests using a theater college student as speaker. The results are graphed and analyzed by comparisons. Variations of subjective and speech intelligibility qualities were identified among the different churches and within each of the churches as well. For instance, church mean values for the intelligibility scores range from 56% to 96% correct words and the variability within each room extent from 6% to 49%. The subjective qualities that contributed to overall acoustical impression were also identified. [Work supported by CEDEC, ESMAE and UP-Portugal.]

Historia do Futuro (Livro Anteprimeiro) (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 343 Ant6nio Vieira. Historia do Futuro (Livro .4nteprimeiro). Critical edition with commentary by Jos6 van den Besselaar. Portugiesische Forschungen der G6rresgesellschaft, series 3, vol. 3, pts. I & 2. Mtinster: Verlag Aschendorff, 1976. 2 vols. Pp. xl + 282, iv + 264. DM, 178. Antonio Vieira, S.J. (1608-97) was perhaps the major figure in the Portuguese Restoration of 1640. Through his influence protection was given to merchants of Jewish descent whose goods were otherwise liable to Inquisitorial confiscation. Commerce was the backbone of the reign of John IV, the first king of modern Portugal. The Jesuit's motives grew out of a theory of history that attracted learned attention in his time. The preliminary part of his unfinished work, called historia do Futuro, is its most comprehensive statement. This work has been purged of all the abridgments and corruptions of earlier editions and has also been given an exhaustive learned commentary by Professor Besselaar, one of Europe's most distinguished interpreters of Portuguese culture. Vieira's Historia is about things in apocalyptic literature, both canonical and noncanonical. Of the latter the verses of the sixteenth-century cobblerprophet Bandarra are most notable. There is a whole genre of Portuguese literature about the supposed return of King Sebastian, whose death in battle was fatal to Portuguese sovereignty. In 1580, Philip II of Spain became king in Portugal. According to Vieira, both canonical Scripture and Bandarrist apocalyptic received historical fulfillment in 1640 when the Portuguese people overthrew the Hapsburgs in Europe's first bourgeois revolt. The philosophical assumption here is that when one understands history it is because the institutions of speech are, in apocalyptic at least, causally related to things. The nexus of thought and things is not necessary but contingent, since apocalyptic applies to things in the Portuguese liberating themselves from Spain. Indeed, any causal nexus of thought and things must be contingent upon thought and speech being related in a causal way. The absolute cause of things cannot be a necessary cause, allowing for the freedom of man in the light of his knowledge of things. In Christian thought, God causes intellectual beings by first causing them to know and so acts contingently with respect to their acts. The claim in the Historia that seems to underlay its elaborate arguments from Scripture is novel, I believe. It is that there is an element in the history of the Portuguese Restoration that is a principle of understanding a universal relation in things. Thus Vieira seems to be attempting to break new ground in giving an explanation of the traditional belief that such a relation exists, only in historical terms. Understanding the likeness between things of thought and sense is distinctive of wisdom in Christian thought. Descartes attempted it in the Meditations. But Vieira's methodology is very different. Vieira considers the three estates of the restored Portuguese commonwealth in terms of the traditional three elements of salt, viz., air, fire, and water, wherewith the fourth, earth, is preserved from corruption.' Fused into one, the Portuguese church, nobility, and people fulfill the Scriptural dictum "You are the salt of the earth." Crucially, the meaning of the bonding of elements is not in the ordinary language of physics but in that of apocalyptic. Speech about water in the context of apocalyptic is speech about things observed by sense; not just in the imagination of the seer, but also by the eyes of those who see the things spoken of by the seer as history. Such are the eyes of the common people of apocalyptic times, whose awareness of their contingent position in history is evident in the latter-day sovereignty they enjoy in that universal kingdom revealed in messianic prophecy. Such was the kingdom of modern Portugal in Vieira's eyes. ' Obras Escolhidas, 12 vols. (Lisbon: Sa da Costa, 1951-54), t0:208. 344 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY Vieira saw this sort of self-awareness marking the impending end of the historical mission of the Church. John IV was the "hidden king" of Bandarrist prophecy. The Iberian people were temporal vicars of Christ in recognition of which the popes had given the Portuguese a universal mission? The refinement of the Portuguese idiom Vieira undertook...

La orientación de las iglesias mozárabes

Las iglesias mozárabes plantean numerosos puntos dudosos, empezando por el propio concepto de mozárabe, muy discutido por los especialistas. Uno de ellos es su orientación, que tiene algunas características propias que lo diferencian de otros edificios prerrománicos. Mantienen la tendencia general de la orientación hacia la salida del sol, pero presentan unas dispersiones mayores que en otros ejemplos estudiados. Existe un porcentaje significativo de iglesias cuyas orientaciones no corresponden con ninguna posición posible del orto solar e incluso existe un caso especialmente extraño, como es la ermita de Hérmedes de Cerrato, con una orientación prácticamente a norte, excepcional en las iglesias altomedievales europeas. Dada la escasez de estudios específicos sobre la orientación de las iglesias mozárabes, los autores pretenden analizar las orientaciones medidas sobre un conjunto de 49 iglesias españolas y portuguesas. Son casi los únicos lugares donde se realizó esta arquitectura, a excepción de algunos ejemplos en la Septimania francesa, cuya consideración presenta dudas y que no se incluyen en la base de datos. Se trata de definir el día que fueron orientadas y las razones simbólicas, litúrgicas o funcionales de tal orientación. Para ello se hará una breve exposición de los cálculos astronómicos necesarios. También se analizarán algunos casos atípicos de interés, muy notables en este tipo de iglesias.