O Monte Carmelo nas montanhas de Minas : arte, iconografia e devoção nas Ordens Terceiras do Carmo de Minas Gerais (séculos XVIII e XIX).

Abstract

Opposing the establishment of regular clergymen prohibition in Minas, the ideals of the Mendicant Orders were present in this region since the mid-eighteenth century, when lay people associations, known as Third Orders, emerged. A Third Order is in an association of Catholic laymen, gathered around the devotion of a specific patron, they come together in spiritual, fraternal and social communion by means of a Religious Order. They aspire to Christian perfection by practicing their piety in accordance to the provisions of a statute, but they don’t profess solemn vows of obedience, chastity and poverty, typical of the first and second orders – the so-called Regular Orders. These sodalities cultivated a refined spirituality and therefore had a very specific iconographic repertoire, according to values held by each fraternal institution. In the case of the Third Orders of Minas Gerais, images and symbols that extol Carmelites contemplative experience stand out, alluding to historical, mythical and mystical events that feature their story and message of faith. The dissertation intends to investigate the religious and devotional dynamic which guided the ideas of third Carmelites in Minas Gerais, from the second half of the eighteenth century until the mid-nineteenth century, focused on artistic culture and the iconographic repertoire related to the decoration of the six temples built in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the following places: São João Del Rei, Mariana, Ouro Preto, Diamantina, Sabará and Serro. The cult of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is old and in this region has become an important devotion to society, shared by various social groups. The eminent fruits of that religiosity are an important and rich cultural heritage that stands for the Order's history, full of legendary and fabulous facts. Figuratively, translating into symbols and representations that refer to its symbolic origin even in the Old Testament, Elijah and Elisha; to its historical foundation in the thirteenth century, with St. Simon Stock; the reform of the Discalced Carmelites led by St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross; and last but not least, the hierophany or sacred manifestations in the various apparitions of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.