Materiality and the building of an Augustinian memory between East and West: concerning a letter from D. Frei Aleixo de Meneses of 1609

Abstract

The paper discusses the materiality of objects and religious writing in the context of exchanges of gifts in places between the Western Indian Ocean and the Convent of Our Lady of Grace in Lisbon. It begins with a letter written in December 1609 by the Archbishop of Goa and Primate of the East D. Friar Aleixo de Meneses to the Portuguese Province of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine. The analysis prioritizes the parts of the missive on the description of a cross and a large crystal box in chronicles and narratives written mainly by Augustinians between 1634 and 1720. It highlights the cultural connections and power hierarchies established in religious and political relations with the Islamic worlds through the toponym Ormuz. Writing about objects is understood as an influential mechanism in the perennial memory of individuals and social groups. In the conclusion, a few points are investigated: forms of appropriation and cultural meaning inscribed in materialities by varied genres of writing in Christianity, in which variations of the tradition of hagiological discourses persist.

Keywords: material culture, religious writing, memory, Augustinian, Ormuz.