Abstract
I analyze part of the trajectory of Faustino Ribeiro Júnior, a renowned healer from São Paulo in the first decade of the 20th century, who took significant flights in the first half of the 1910s. Taking advantage of a change in legislation, due to the arrival of Hermes da Fonseca to the Presidency of the Republic, the former “healer” obtained the diploma to legally practice medicine. I discuss the Education Reform of 1911 and how it impacted the sensitive theme of professional freedom that crossed the entire Republic and gained new impetus with the arrival of a military president who flirted with positivism. The trajectory of Faustino Ribeiro allows reflections on the dilemmas faced by the young Republic and how the subjects involved in that process, doctors, jurists, and politicians, dealt with such dilemmas.
Keywords
Faustino Ribeiro; healing practices; medicine exercise; professional freedom; education reform