Utopia sem miopia: índios, colonos e jesuítas em duas cartas inéditas do Padre António Vieira introdução, transcrição e versão do latim

The two letters whose original Latin text is published here for the first time are the result of a systematic research on the autograph and apograph manuscripts of Father António Vieira, within the context of the edition of his Complete Works in 30 volumes, of which they can be found only in its vernacular version. They belong to an interesting corpus of 13 letters kept at the Archivium Romanum Societatis Jesus, which, even though known to historians, have not yet obtained specific attention. They were both sent on July 22, 1688, and July 14, 1691, to the Praepositus Generalis, in Rome, Father Tirso González, and address the issues reflected on our title, pointing to the attitudes of the Jesuits towards indians and settlers and to those among the jesuits themselves. They allow us to identify in the internal life of the Order the reflexes of the same fractures that crossed the society of those born in Brasil, the so called indigenae or “naturais da terra”, and the “Portuguese”.