“We dismiss the supplicant in defectu coloris”: color in the priestly licensing process in the diocese of Rio de Janeiro (1702-1745)

ABSTRACT

Dismissal because of the “color defect” for descendants of enslaved and free Africans became a widespread feature of the licensing process for the secular clergy throughout the eighteenth century. However, the expression was neither natural nor meaningless. The standardization of these dismissals reflected vocabulary that was established based on the experiences of ecclesial agents in the context of a slave society permeated by Old Regime political culture. Therefore, the expression came to represent a vision about social classifications based on color and conceptions about slavery-related origins.

Keywords:
secular clergy; Catholicism; slavery; color defect; social classification