The Ruins of São Miguel das Missões (; Portuguese for 'St. Michael of the Missions'), also known as São Miguel Arcanjo, and by its former Spanish name Misión de San Miguel Arcángel, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the municipality of São Miguel das Missões, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil.
The São Miguel Jesuit mission was part of a vast programme of evangelisation by the Jesuits, who extended their efforts eastwards and westwards, leaving a strong mark on many countries around the world, which can still be seen today. The Jesuit settlement was established at a time when the territory was under Spanish rule and was the most notable of the Seven Towns, which have become an important part of the history of Rio Grande do Sul and Brazil and a source of rich traditions. Built in 1687 according to an advanced organisational plan for its location and time, a flourishing civilisation arose there, economically prosperous and prolific in cultural and artistic expressions, where European and indigenous elements were mixed, always, however, with a strong European and Christian orientation. But as soon as it reached its apogee, with the construction of its church between 1735 and 1750, its decline began. Caught up in the political and territorial disputes between Portugal and Spain and the controversies surrounding Jesuit activity, it was one of the centres of the Guaraní War and was burned down and depopulated in 1756. Restored and partially repopulated, it survived a few more years under a new administration after the Jesuits were expelled, and their Order suppressed, but it was already in decline. At the beginning of the 19th century it was looted, and its last inhabitants dispersed, making its ruin inexorable and falling into complete abandonment.
The restoration of the structures began in 1925, and since then the site has been increasingly valued, undergoing several restoration interventions and being the subject of several projects to promote its material and immaterial legacy. Its church has become one of the best-known images in Rio Grande do Sul, and the complex is a major tourist attraction. It is also the main centre of the city where it is located, which was formed as a result of its construction and is closely linked to it on many levels. Indigenous Guaraní communities in the surrounding area hold the site as sacred and as part of their collective memory and identity.
Because of its important historical, architectural and cultural value, the site was listed by the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN) in 1938, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983, along with the ruins of San Ignacio Miní, Nuestra Señora de Santa Ana, Nuestra Señora de Loreto and Santa María La Mayor, located in Argentinian territory, and in 2015 was granted Brazilian Cultural Heritage status by IPHAN for its associations with Guaraní history and spirituality.
History
Origins
The São Miguel do Arcanjo mission was one of the outcomes of the Christian programme of evangelisation. Ever since the ministry of Jesus, when he commanded his apostles to go out preaching, it has been part of Christianity to seek the conversion of people to their faith. Over the centuries, there have been many missionaries from different religious orders, and even independent ones, dedicated to this activity.Stowell, William Hendry. The missionary work of the church: its principles, history, claims, and present aspects. Storrow, 1872Kennedy, T. "Catholic Missions". In: The Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company
At the end of the Renaissance, in 1539, St Ignatius of Loyola founded the Jesuit Order, which soon proved to be the most dynamic, versatile and successful religious organisation engaged in the missionary campaign. Their success was due to a strict discipline, a solid cultural and pedagogical training of a broad scope, and an adaptability to the different local contexts that became notorious, enabling them to use indigenous customs to soften the impact of conversion and make it easier and more appealing to non-Christians. In addition, their linguistic ability, persuasive rhetoric and innovative methods of indoctrination and teaching also made them famous. With all these resources, the Jesuits spread throughout the world, in particular to Asia and America, where they founded stable missions and converted masses of the population.Marzal, Manuel María & Tua, Sandra Negro. Esclavitud, economía y evangelización: las haciendas jesuitas en la América virreinal [Slavery, economy and evangelisation: Jesuit haciendas in viceregal America] (in Spanish) Fondo Editorial Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2005. p. 9-11 Reff, Daniel T. Plagues, priests, and demons: sacred narratives and the rise of Christianity in the Old World and the New. Cambridge University Press, 2005. p. 214-215
In the Americas, the missions were also known as reduções (reductions), a word that derives from the Latin reducere, meaning to lead or teach. There, the priests brought together numerous native peoples, teaching them Catholic doctrine and European customs, becoming largely autonomous communities, but ultimately dependent on the Monarch and the General of the Order. Missionary activity was also attempted in America by other religious orders, but none with such success in their aims and such posthumous fame as the Jesuits.Corsi, Elisabetta. "El Debate Actual sobre el Relativismo y la Producción de Saberes en las Misiones Católicas durante la Primera Edad Moderna: una lección para el presente?" [The Current Debate on Relativism and the Production of Knowledge in the Catholic Missions during the Early Modern Age: A Lesson for the Present?] (in Spanish) In: Corsi, Elisabetta. Órdenes Religiosas entre América y Asia: ideas para una historia misionera de los espacios coloniales. El Colegio de Mexico AC, 2008, p. 27-34 Gareis, Iris. "La evangelización de la población indígena y afro, y las haciendas jesuitas de la América española: logros y desencuentros" [The evangelisation of the indigenous and Afro-descendant population and the Jesuit haciendas in Spanish America: achievements and misunderstandings] (in Spanish) In: Marzal, Manuel María & Tua, Sandra Negro. Esclavitud, economía y evangelización: las haciendas jesuitas en la América virreinal. Fondo Editorial Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2005, p. 43-44 Fajardo, S.J., José del Rey. "Función Religiosa, Social y Cultural de las Haciendas Misionales en la Orinoquia" [Religious, Social and Cultural Role of the Haciendas Misionales in the Orinoquia] (in Spanish) In: Marzal, Manuel María & Tua, Sandra Negro. Esclavitud, economía y evangelización: las haciendas jesuitas en la América virreinal. Fondo Editorial Pontifícia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2005, p. 159-161 However, due to several factors, missionary activity adopted somewhat different moulds in Spanish America compared to what happened in the domains of Portugal, whose success was far more limited.Castelknau-L'Estoile, Charlotte de. "The Uses of Shamanism: evangelizing strategies and missionary models in seventeenth-century Brazil". In: O'Malley, John W. et alii (eds). The Jesuits II: cultures, sciences, and the arts, 1540-1773. University of Toronto Press, 2006, p. 616-637
The Seven Towns and the São Miguel Arcanjo Reduction
At the time when the São Miguel settlement was founded, subject to the Jesuit Province of Paraguay, the territory belonged to Spain, and its final collapse was due to the conflicts that this nation had with Portugal over possession of the region, and also to the intense defamatory campaign that the Jesuits suffered in the 18th century, which led to their deportation from both Iberian countries and ultimately to the (temporary) suppression of the Order, causing a generalised disruption of all its former missionary foundations. In the meantime, this mission was part of the group known as the Guaraní Reductions, since the majority of the natives belonged to this ethnic group.Fleck, Eliane Cristina Deckmann. "As Reduções Jesuítico-Guaranis na Perspectiva da História das Mentalidades" [The Jesuit-Guarani Reductions from the Perspective of the History of Mentalities] (in Portuguese) In: Marzal, Manuel María & Tua, Sandra Negro. Un reino en la frontera: las misiones jesuitas en la América colonial. Fondo Editorial Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 1999, p. 117-118 Pinto, Luís Flodoardo Silva. As missões orientais: epopéia jesuítica no sul do Brasil [The Eastern Missions: a Jesuit experience in southern Brazil] (in Portuguese) Editora AGE Ltda, 2002, p. 15-22 This was one of the most organised and flourishing of all the American missions, and became an ideal model for Jesuit reductions.Custódio, Luiz Antonio Bolcato. "Missões Jesuíticas: Arquitetura e Urbanismo" [Jesuit Missions: Architecture and Urbanism] (in Portuguese) In: Cadernos de História do Memorial do Rio Grande do Sul, (21)
Within the large Guaraní ensemble, a particular group emerged. They were known as the Seven Towns of the Missions, which were formed as an offshoot of the eighteen Reductions of the Tape, founded from 1626 onwards on the eastern bank of the Uruguay River, in a region that is now part of Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil. Among these was the early reduction of San Miguel Arcanjo, founded in 1632 by the priests Cristóvão de Mendoza and Pablo Benevidez.
Fifteen of these settlements were attacked and devastated by the São Paulo bandeirantes a few years after they were founded, and in 1638 the others also faced the same fate. Fleeing the massacre and enslavement, the surviving natives and the priest directors moved to the west side of the Uruguay River. Those from San Miguel, destroyed in 1637, settled near Concepción in Paraguay, starting another settlement and building a church. This settlement was nearly destroyed by a tornado in 1642, but was soon rebuilt.Custódio, Luiz Antônio Bolcato. A Redução de São Miguel Arcanjo: contribuição ao estudo da tipologia urbana missioneira [The Reduction of São Miguel Arcanjo: a contribution to the study of missionary urban typology] (in Portuguese) Dissertação de Mestrado. UFRGS, 2002
The bandeirantes had been temporarily stopped at the Battle of M'Bororé, fought in 1641, but with the end of the old Iberian Union at the same time, which had placed the kingdoms of Portugal and Spain under the same crown, political changes caused the foundation of new reductions to go into recess. The initiative was revived in 1682, when seven new settlements, the Seven Towns, were founded, some on the ruins of previous foundations, but São Miguel was re-established in 1687, apparently in a new location. São Miguel became the most important and populous of the Seven Towns. By 1690 the priests' convent and one hundred dwellings were already well under construction, and the town already had a population of over four thousand people. At its peak, it reached almost seven thousand. By 1697, the population had grown so much that the reduction had to be dismembered, with some of its inhabitants moving to a new colony, created nearby under the direction of Father , which would later be known as the St John the Baptist reduction. In 1700, it already had a church, but plans were already underway to build a larger one.