Abstract:
This article addresses the social biography of Espírito Santo’s Convent, in Santo Amaro (SC), Brazil, in order to highlight the imbrications between public space and religion. This convent was the place where lived Friar Hugolino (1926-2011), a Franciscan who promoted healing activities there. After his death, the so-called Conventinho was rented by the municipality in order to preserve the “memory of the city” and to promote “religious tourism”. This circulation between the secular and the religious is expressed in the objects displayed in the museum installed there. Some pieces, exposed as historical patrimony, became objects of devotion by visitors and employees of the building. These devotional practices reflect the privileged position of Catholicism in the public space, where they can emerge as “art”, “history” or “culture”, but they also give place to (not only) Catholic practices.
Keywords:
public space; religion; catholicism; culture; art.