Mining Religion in Brazil: A Case Study of Lay Catholic Religious Associations in Minas Gerais, Brazil

This presentation proposes examining relationship between Catholic religious devotion in churches and shrines in and near former mines in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. It begins with a brief overview of mining in the Americas, then, it focuses on the history of mining, the way the Portuguese empire enslaved already expert miners, and the relationship between this history and the development of Catholicism in Brazil, in particular, the development of lay Catholic associations among miners. These associations, devoted to specific qualities of the Virgin Mary, organized and built their own churches, which in turn organized annual religious celebrations devoted to Mary, throughout the state of Minas Gerais. The presentation analyzes the architecture and art of their churches, as well as records pertaining to annual festivals, and suggests that the church acted as an anchor whose art reflected important community values, and allowed for the many ways that these lay religious associations promoted and maintained their communities in extremely challenging situations.