Em vida inocente, na morte anjinho: morte, infância e significados da morte infantil em Minas Gerais (séculos XVIII-XX)

Abstract

This study concerns the beliefs and practices related to infant death in the state of Minas Gerais between the 18th and 20th centuries, by analyzing displays associated to infant deaths. This was a highly relevant phenomenon at the referred period not only because of the role children played in family circles, but also due to the beliefs held in regards to infant soul traits and their influence in the Afterlife in favor of the living, as such beliefs helped family members cope with losing the child. To this end, an examination of the Catholic Churchs proposals was carried out (especially after the Council of Trent) to understand the Churchs prescriptions and the role it had in this matter at that time, as an attempt to gain insight into how Catholicism perceived early childhood infants. The present study therefore analyzed 18th and 19th funeral practices based on the burial records kept by local parishes, in an effort to learn how the population and the Catholic devouts of Minas Gerais acted in the face of child death, and the possible meanings conferred on the final rites dedicated to such passings. A proper examination of the changes in infant death beliefs and practices required this seemingly long period of analysis, particularly because until the end of the 19th century most of the discourses and practices on infant death remained under ecclesiastical jurisdiction, whose apparent intent was to sustain its ideas and procedures in Minas Gerais. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, however, lay people resumed their own death-related practices, which provided families and relatives with material innovations to express themselves before the death of their children, through memory creation and sometimes by publicizing their feelings in the face of loss. Such situation surprisingly did not result in the exclusion of religious meaning from infant death-related displays; on the contrary: families and relatives who created memories of their deceased children organized them from traditional elements of religious belief.