Do altar à escola: a atuação da Igreja Católica no campo educacional amapaense (1903-1956)

Abstract

This study addresses the role of the Catholic Church in the field of Education from a historical perspective. The research focuses on the area that today corresponds to the state of Amapá and has the period from 1903 to 1956 as a chronological cut. The focus is on the ways in which two religious entities – the Congregation of Missionaries of the Holy Family and the Pontifical Institute of Foreign Missions –, in conjunction with the State, contributed to consolidating the school form of education in the lands of Amapá. Our research has the following objectives: 1) to identify the interests that led the clergy to invest, in cooperation with the State, in expanding the field of school education in Amapá, during the period studied; 2) to characterize agents, strategies and instruments that were mobilized in this investment. Starting from the expanded conception of State, by Antonio Gramsci, we examined Livro do Tombo, newspaper articles and writings by Church chroniclers, in order to achieve the goals of the investigation. The main inferences from the research are: 1) the priests invested in school education in Amapá because they saw in it an effective means of effecting its intention to romanize (create an experience of faith adjusted to Catholic orthodoxy) the local society; 2) the clergy mobilized, with the support of the ruling class, religious (priests and nuns), catechists and teachers in carrying out desobrigas, catechesis and religious celebrations within the school space, thus creating a genuflected school, that is, one that in which teaching explicitly takes on a confessional form.