A Santa Casa de Misericórdia de São Luís do Maranhão na política Ultramarina portuguesa de assistência

Abstract

This paper deals with the Holy House of Mercy in the Portuguese assistance policy during the colonial period. At first, we analyze the transformations of the poor and poverty in Europe, the Portuguese charitable ground and the institutionalization of the Holy House of Mercy of Lisbon in 1498. Then we stop at the expansion of the Holy House of Mercy to overseas spaces - State of India and Portuguese America. Finally, we analyze the Holy House of Mercy of the city of São Luís through letters, requirements, provisions and crafts of the seventeenth and eighteenth century. In order to understand how the Santa Casa de Misericórdia was established in Colonial Maranhão during the Portuguese overseas welfare policy and its charitable action to the poor in São Luís.