Atlantic connections: Fr. Apolinário da Conceição, religious erudition and print culture in Portugal and the Portuguese America in the eighteenth century

Abstract

Through the character of the Franciscan Fr. Apolinário da Conceição, this article analyzes some questions regarding the religious and erudite culture in the eighteenth-century Iberian world, as well as the edition and circulation of prints throughout the Portuguese Monarchy. On one hand, it explores a subject traditionally forgotten by historiography: the Portuguese Franciscan written culture and literary production, especially during a period shaped by a progressive ‘intellectualization’ of the Seraphic Order in Portuguese contexts. In this regard, the specific circumstances of Conceição’s intellectual activity will allow us a better understanding of the features defining the writer’s profile inside the Franciscan Order. On the other hand, the analysis of Conceição’s trajectory between Brazil and Lisbon shows the connections he established among these two worlds. These connections were crucial for the publishing of some of Conceição’s works, revealing the scarcely known contribution of the Luso-Brazilian colonial world to printed book patronage. They also supported indirectly Conceição’s participation in the commerce of books, revealing an original, cleric-centred book market, functioning in parallel to the more usual circuits.