Abstract
In this article the author discusses the significance of death in the fraternity of Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Homens Pretos of São Paulo, Brazil, a religious institution founded in 1711 and currently still in existence. This fraternity played an important role in the maintenance of popular traditions based on a “black” religious practice and not merely a “white” religious practice, conceived from the standpoint of slavery. The relations established between the Catholic Church and the slaves during the colonial period constitute the historical context of the creation of these fraternities. Stress is also laid on the process of Romanization of Brazilian Catholicism after the Republic was installed.