IEAB Friends
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07:01:33 pm on March 27, 2009 |
The first attempt to establish the Anglicanism in Brazil was in 1805. The first anglican missionary to visit Brazil was Henry Martin. On a trip to India, he landed in Bahia and made the first contact with Brazilians. In his travel diary said: Who is the fortunate missionary that will bring the name of Christ to this west region? When will this beautiful country free of ignorance and spurious Christianity? We have crosses in abundance here, but when they announce the doctrine of the Cross? This missionary arrived at India the following year and when returning to England seven years later died in a shipwreck in Persia.
Expatriate Anglican Chaplaincy starts in 1810 trough a Covenant celebrated between Portugal and England to promote spiritual care (only in English) to British citizens at the mainly Brazilian cities. Such Covenant were possible because the Napoleonic Wars approached politically England and Portugal. Portuguese royal family moved to Brazil escorted by an naval armed English while Napoleon was occupying Lisbon. As part of this agreement, England demanded the opening of all Brazilian ports and the right to religious assistance to british citizens. After the Independence from Portugal, 1822, the Kingdom of Brazil reaffirmed such Covenant and the Chaplaincies continued to work with special permission because the country had an official religion and not allow to worship other than the Roman Catholic Church. With the establishment of the Republic and religious freedom, it started the missionary work which was headed by two missionaries from the Virginia Theological Seminary, USA. In the next post I’ll share this new start.
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Revd. Canon Francisco de Assis da Silva
Provincial Secretary of IEAB
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