Jansenism, Freemasonry and the Catholic Reaction movement: Alfredo Freyre and the dispute over education in Pernambuco (1910-1920)

Abstract

This article discusses the political-religious clash between Alfredo Freyre – father of the historian-sociologist Gilberto Freyre – and the so-called ‘Catholic Reaction” movement in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco from 1910 to 1930. Professor Alfredo Freyre was a Jansenist Catholic and Freemason, opposing the political project to implement religious education in schools defended by the Jesuits, who were the main architects of the Catholic Reaction movement in Brazil and in Recife. We discuss alliances between Jansenists, Protestants and Freemasons that went up against the political hegemony of the Roman Catholic Church in Brazil, considering the theory that Alfredo Freyre’s actions represented the internal struggle in the Catholic camp among antagonistic movements and groups, particularly between Jansenists and Jesuits, with education playing a key role in the balance of power. We therefore approach the political and religious interface in order to demonstrate how religious culture affects political culture, with decisive ramifications on the social sphere. The work is located within the field of the History of Political Ideas, due to its consideration of the relationships between the subjective, the religious, and the political in intellectual output and in the social sphere.