PMID: 11640188Oct 20, 2001Paper

Purgatory, mercy and charity: structural conditions of care in Portugal (15th to 19th centuries)

Dynamis
Laurinda Abreu

Abstract

The aim of this article is to show how the Portuguese welfare system was organized and how it survived for several centuries. It was rebuilt by the monarchy in the late 15th century, a process that coincided with the birth of the Misericordias under the protection of the King. After the Council of Trent, these fraternities ran the health system, which was financed by people who believed in the power of perpetual Masses to evade Purgatory. These institutions were run by the political elite, who exploited them for their own benefit. The article also analyses the main measures taken by the state in the 18th century to change the old and weak system of public care. These laws were ineffectual and unable to change the real situation: the Misericordias were alone--the elite had run away when money was short--and they received no support from the public purse or from the faithful, who at that time had less faith in the perpetual Mass.

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