Authors: Teresa Leonor M. Vale, Ana Maria Leal de Faria and Maria João Ferreira / Lisbon, Scribe, 2019

 

Location: Chapel of Campo Santo, National Palace of Mafra, October 26, 2019, 15.30h

The document that was studied and is now published, is preserved in the Library of Ajuda: it is a narrative prepared by someone (the religious Fr. José de Jesus Maria) who witnessed in person the events related to the consecration of the Royal Basilica of Our Lady and Saint Anthony of Mafra, whose solemn ceremonies took place in October 1730.

Although not unknown to the authors dealing with Mafra, especially in the field of art history, the manuscript remained to be studied. The relevance of the information it conveys, without echo in other coeval texts (both manuscript and printed), justified its full transcription, publication and study.

Thus, it was transcribed and studies were undertaken in which the aspects that, from the point of view of content, appeared to us to be considered as most significant. After a brief introduction in which a presentation of the text and its author is undertaken, a first essay undertakes a contextualization of the event within the reign of King João V, taking a double approach to the event, from the royal protocol point of view, and of the religious ceremonial.

Following are two other essays, dedicated to the presence of goldsmiths and textiles at the event, which assume themselves as true participants, we would almost say protagonists, of the ceremonies.