A Confraria de Santo Isidoro e seus camores : Alto Minho – Sécs. XVI-XX

Resumo

To some extent throughout our country, particularly in the rural areas, in situations of natural disasters – draught, floods and plagues – the people resort to a form of entreaty and penitence called clamour, trusting in divine intervention to change the adverse climate conditions. It was a collective prayer, said out loud and in procession usually to higher ground where there was a church or chapel, where the Eucharist was celebrated and a sermon preached, thus finalizing the devote practice. The clamours to Saint Isidore, practiced along the northern coastal stretch, between Viana do Castelo and Caminha since the 16th century to the middle of the 20th, constitutes an interesting example of
these pious manifestations. When faced with prolonged draught, the inhabitants from fourteen villages in the area established a communal vow and went out in clamour, for a period of time, asking for favourable conditions to good
harvests every year. They formed then a Confraternity – the Confraternity of Saint Isidore – whose main objective was to organize the clamours. This paper will focus on an analysis of the Confraternity’s Articles of Association.