“A su usanza y según el aderezo de la tierra” – baroque devotion and pity in Jesuit-Guaranis missions

Abstract

The paper analyzes the Jesuit discourse trough its gaps, introducing the Jesuit-Guarani settlements (17th century) as a space of reinvention of meanings, where a specific sensitiveness was built as consequence of a selective and creative appropriation and of a ressignification of expressions of the native Guarani culture and the Christian-occidental culture .The research found that the specific demonstrations of Guarani’s sensitivity were assumed by Jesuit discourse, as a result of a successful converting process to Christianity.