Images of what a religious ought to be according to the sacred oratoy from the river plate

Abstract

Among its many purposes, the Council of Trent legislated to reform the ecclesiastical discipline. If the new challenge was evangelization, the priests would have to follow a common pattern that remained in force until the beginning of the XIX century, with some variations in every era.
From the set of methodologies intended to achieve that purpose (some of them varied and were adjusted over time), the sermon represented an effective tool used in colonial and independent Latin America to seek a change in behavior within a perspective of social control. Such control aimed at the membership of the church as well as at the pastoral workers and it was largely used in convents, universities, schools, and seminaries, to train the secular and regular clergy, and to show what was expected of them. In this context, the lives and virtues of the saints were often taken as examples to follow for the newest novices and the young professed through speeches specially designed for certain occasions such as the taking of vows and religious professions or through the so-called eulogy, which aimed at highlighting the virtues of the saints from a determined religious order in certain solemnities.
This paper will intend to deepen into what was expected from a religious of the Rio de la Plata at the end of the XVIII century and the beginning of the XIX century. In order to do so, a number of sermons is going to be analyzed, such as those by trade and by saints like Francis of Assisi, Anthony of Padua or Benedict the Moor from this time.