Fire, Brimstone, and the War against the Heretics
This chapter deals with the relationship between Protestants and santas missões populares. It explains that the missões were a key means by which anti-Protestantism became embedded within the Catholic religious culture of the Northeast. The chapter looks into the conflict between Capuchins and Protestants that had a long history in both Brazil and the wider world. It discusses the Capuchin Order the was founded in the midst of the Protestant Reformation, and one of the order's most important initial activities was seeking to reconvert individuals and families who had turned away from the Catholic Church. It also talks about the re-emergence of Italian Capuchins in the Northeast that paved the way for the ascension of one of the most famous Brazilian Capuchins of all time, Dom Frei Vital Maria Gonçalves de Oliveira.