Considerations on the activities of the Society of Jesus in the training of the leading groups in Rio Grande do Sul State

Abstract

Th e intellectual production on the Catholic restoration in Brazil is vast and diverse. It ranges from studies conducted from the ecclesiastical point of view, the history of Catholicism in Brazil, to analyses of a sociological nature on the careers of its main intellectual representatives or on their recruitment and careers in the church. Given such a diversity of topics, contributions and privileged relations, the article intends to highlight the relations between the Catholic Church and the school and religious education of the leading groups in the 19th century through an analysis of the history of the Jesuits in Brazil. Th us, based on the case of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, it discusses the social
and political conditions that favored the installation and maintenance of the enterprises and instruments of the Catholic restoration promoted by the Jesuits, viz. their schools and Marian Congregations. It also considers the evaluations and meanings ascribed to
the movement by those individuals whose careers were associated with those Catholic institutions. Th ey were an elite of the latter who had the mission of restoring the lay institutions for Catholicism.

Key words: Catholic Church, Jesuits, elites, Catholic restoration.