Abstract
In the 19th century, as a reaction to the acute crisis undergone by the Catholic Church in Brazil, a fundamental reorganization of institutional structures had to be implemented in order to recover lost political, economic and social power. One result of this reorientation was a new approach to women, with the Church attempting to “enlist” women in its cause. A simultaneous “feminization” of Catholic practice led nevertheless to stronger “clericalism” within this practice, obedience becoming a norm and a virtue in itself to the faithful. This process of female mobilization and women's various reactions to it is a very complex one, its terms and conditions being incessantly redefined, conditional both upon the Church's own inner structural redefinition and upon evolution of broader social patterns. Throughout and due to this dual process, during which the Catholic Church constantly tried to “incorporate” women into its own institutional views and actions (without, however, changing any of its specific institutional patterns, thus deliberately maintaining women in an inferior and marginal position), opportunities to disrupt and transform the course of events in favour of women have emerged. This complex process is traced in this article.