"A Piedade não é piegas" (Padre Américo Monteiro de Aguiar): entre a autodiegese e uma "hagiografia incarnada"

The present study aims to present some essential coordinates for a preliminary approach to the concept and understanding of the phenomenon of holiness in the writings of Padre Américo Monteiro de Aguiar (Penafiel, October 23, 1887 - Porto, July 16, 1956). To this end, and in order to highlight the “autodiegetic” dimension of the “hagiography” to which the title points, we begin by presenting some considerations about the literary-theological corpus in question, emphasizing its profoundly autobiographical character. In a second and central moment of the study, the conceptual multiplicity around the sanctity that becomes evident from the analysis of the said writings is inspected. In this context, the peculiar horizon of understanding that Padre Américo presents for the analysis of such phenomenon and the multifaceted terminological construction used by him to describe it gain evidence. Finally, the “exemplary” character that certain embodiments acquire at the time of assimilate the respective dynamics and processes of sanctity is presented. In conclusion, this view of sanctity evidenced by the Author is combined with his (self)biography and with the hagiographic view of other contemporary authors, pointing out, therefore, as many hypotheses of comparative analyzes, equally enriching for the understanding both the concept and the phenomenon of holiness in the 20th century.