Jesuit Missionaries of Colonial Brazil

The first Jesuit missionaries came to Brazil in 1549. They were members of a new Catholic order designed to lead a counterattack against the Reformation.

Under the influence of their leader, Manuel da Nobrega, they became so influential that by 1600, the 128 Jesuits in Brazil controlled the lives of most of the natives under Portuguese rule.

The enslaved, oppressed natives welcomed the Jesuits. Many of the natives believed that associating with the Jesuits and becoming Christians would make them safer.

The Jesuits were respected wherever they went. They went into the villages, learned the Tupi language and made no material demands of the natives.

In the early years of the Jesuit's arrival, thousands of baptisms, conversions and Roman Catholic marriages took place.

However, the new converts to Catholicism soon reverted to the practices of nudity, polygamy and belief in the shaman.

In order to deal with these problems, the Jesuits created enormous mission villages. Thousands of natives were first encouraged, then later forced, to live in them so that they could be instructed and converted to Christianity.

By the end of the 16th century, about 30 of these mission villages were operating. They provided the foundation for the conversion of all of South America to Christianity.

However, the Jesuit mission villages were not as successful as expected. This was because removing the natives from the countryside demoralized them, because the villages were attacked by colonists who wanted slaves and because the densely packed communities in the villages became vulnerable to contagious diseases.

Beginning in the 1550s, dreadful epidemics broke out among the natives. These recurred into the 17th century.