Uma multidão de escritos: a questão do sigilo confessional e a guerra de papéis contra a Jacobeia (1745-1752)

Abstract

Between the years 1745 and 1752, the Portuguese Inquisition waged a true war against Jacobeia – a religious movement that emerged in the early decades of the 18th century with the purpose of disseminating a way of life based on the reform of spirituality and rigorous devotional, spiritual, and sacramental living. The persecution of Jacobeia occurred primarily through the manipulation of information/disinformation, which was propagated through a considerable number of defamatory pamphlets, books, and insulting papers, published – mostly clandestinely – with the acquiescence of the Inquisition. In these texts, members of the Jacobeia, in general, were vilified, accused of being "sigilistas" or religious individuals who did not respect the secrecy of the sacrament of confession, using the testimony revealed in the confessional as a means of persecuting the faithful. In light of this, we will examine the writings produced during the period known as the confessional secrecy issue – the meaning of their uses, their effects, and their interests – and seek to understand how the spread of disinformation about the members of the Jacobeia contributed to the creation of a historical-political semantics that attributed meanings and forged the very idea of Jacobeia that developed throughout the 18th century.