Trajetória intelectual do jesuíta Leonel Franca: educação e catolicismo (1923-1948)

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to discuss the participation and contribution of Father Leonel Franca (1893-1948), during the XX century - specifically between 1923 and 1948, emphasizing his performance in the Brazilian educational field. For doing so, it is taken into consideration his intellectual trajectory, as a member of the Society of Jesus, particularly in his performance in the public sphere to defend the Catholic Church’s position in the debates of the Brazilian education and the Religious Teaching. The Jesuit is considered the guide of a Catholic intellectuals generation and the mediator of the ecclesiastical demands and imperatives of Getúlio Vargas’ government. The criteria for the temporal delimitation are the date of his ordination (1923) and the year he became the Pontifícia Universidade Católica’s Chancellor (1948), of which - also - was a founder, consonant to this his death, at the age of 55. This thesis has as its main sources correspondences, reading notes and annotations - localised in his journal - in Arquivo da Província dos Jesuítas no Brasil, whose head office is in Rio de Janeiro. The documental collection is composed by belongings and manuscripts of Jesuit priests from the whole country, among whom is Father Leonel Franca; and also are kept under responsibility of the representants of this Order in the country. As well as the mentioned material, what was also considered was his work over his trajectory. Concerning the analytical strategies of this production, considerations are developed based on Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological perspective, particularly in order to comprehend this Jesuit priest as a mediator. Herein concepts such as habitus, field and capital are used to understand his social actions in favour of the Catholic Church’s interests. Furthermore, it is discussed Franca’s sociability web, used by any member of the Society of Jesus transiting in the most various social and cultural environments. It is demonstrated, initially, how the Jesuit started his education which proportioned to him, later, transit in the political and educational fields in order to reach religious accomplishments. Thereafter, it is presented the Father’s projection in the structure and the formats of his sociability web reaching arguments which justify his political acting concerning Brazilian Education. Lastly, his consecration through the reverberation of his works, concerning the Religious Teaching and the creation of a Catholic university to reach the desired configuration of a Catholic society. Franca established a wide contacts web to systematize and project the Church’s educative program and that was made possible through direct relations with the State. This Jesuit Father, considered by the literary critics “the polemicist” of the XX century, consolidated his intellectual journey treading the Jesuitical rationality path, engaging war and alliances with the State and firming his legacy in the conquest in favour of the Catholic Church, in different social spheres of the social world.