Article: Beyond the silence of the archives - The Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa collection and historiographic research

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The first mercies, founded at the dawn of the Modern Period, assumed, from an early age, an original character with regard to the practices of assistance to the population. Carrying out a more global action, based on the fourteen works of mercy, these lay associations were, in a certain way, innovative. They distinguished themselves from medieval brotherhoods for directing their activities to a wider audience and also for a more diversified range of services they provided to the community: monitoring of the sick, material, judicial and spiritual support for prisoners and those sentenced to death, rescue of captives, assistance to the poorest sections of the population, burial of the dead, provision of orphans and, later, with the administrative supervision of local hospitals, the support of foundlings.

This vast program of material support for the most underprivileged was complemented by practices of spiritual assistance and a strong presence in religious daily life, through active participation in burials, processions and in some of the main liturgical celebrations.

Text by FRANCISCO D'OREY MANOEL and NELSON MOREIRA ANTÃO

Historical Archive Director and Historic Archive Technician

Source: Cidade Solidária Magazine n.º 24
Edition: SCML, 2010