Morte e práticas fúnebres na secularizada República: a Irmandade e o Cemitério São Miguel e Almas de Porto Alegre na primeira metade do século XX

Abstract

In this thesis, we discuss burial and cemeterial practices that the Brotherhood São Miguel e Almas from Porto Alegre (RS) adopted in its cemetery, placing them in the context of secularization of the holy grounds and modernization projects and ideas that the city experienced, especially in urban terms in the first decades of the twentieth century. We have identified and analyzed changes made to the funeral practices throughout the first half of the twentieth century, as well as aspects related to the management of the cemetery by the brotherhood, as per the analysis of several existing documents in the file of the institution, especially the minutes of the administrative meetings. The proposed construction of the cemetery São Miguel e Almas and its inauguration in 1909 resulted from the importance that a portion of the population of Porto Alegre attributed to the burial of their loved ones in a space that keeps ritualistic Catholic traditions and thus would differ from the public cemetery and secular installed in the city since mid-century. The adoption of strategies such as leases and perpetuations by the brotherhood allowed not only renovations and expansions of the cemetery - which received deposits and modern vertical niches - such as the significant expansion of heritage and prestige of brotherhood among the population of Porto Alegre, which allowed the improvement of the services that it offered - as the conduction of funeral - and annual tributes to the dead and the protector Arcanjo. At the end of the first half of the twentieth century, and with the support of the Archdiocese, the cemetery - private, Catholic, and heritage with modern esthetic standard - would become a reference for the wealthy Catholic families of the city, which seeked in the holy ground maintained by Brotherhood of São Miguel e Almas the guarantee of social distinction in life and in death and observance of ritualistic Catholic funeral.