Resumo

CANEQUE, Alejandro. Martyrs and the discourse on martyrdom in the formation of the Jesuits' frontier missions. Relac. Estud. hist. soc. [online]. 2016, vol.37, n.145, pp.13-61. ISSN 2448-7554.

Through an analysis of the discursive contexts and intertextuality of a series of Jesuit writings on martyrdom in the New World, this article argues that these accounts were believable -at the time- first because tales of martyrdom confirmed many contemporary the religious prejudices, especially such notions as the innate brutality of pagans, infidels, heretics, apostates and barbarians. Second, society as a whole was continually exposed to public spectacles of corporal punishment, episodes in a punitive culture whetted particularly by the body, such that little imagination was required to accept the reality and existence of such atrocities.

Palavras-chave : Juan Bautista Ferrufino; Andrés Pérez de Ribas; hagiography; Company of Jesus.