Pasaportes de caridad: Las “Cartas de Guia” de las Misericordias portuguesas (siglos XVII-XIX)

This work goes through the “cartas de guia” given by the Portuguese “Misericórdias” between the 17th and the 19th centuries and intends to show their meaning .and importance to the needy in spite of not being formally considered charity work, the “cartas de guia” were given by all the “Santas Casas” we have studied and they were highly important to the poor. These letters were a common practice in these institutions and they were given to the poor who were moving or who intended to move, and they also opened the doors of charity in the nearest charity institution. There the poor were given the essential (goods) and a “carta de guia” was given to them. This procedure was repeated until the poor arrived at their destiny. This way it was possible to connect all the links in the solidarity chain formed by all the “Misericórdias” in favour of the poor.