Assistência e elites no extremo sul do Brasil: a Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Rio Grande (1835-1909)

Abstract

This work investigates the trajectory of the Santa Casa de Misericórdia of Rio Grande – RS, between 1835 and 1909, emphasizing its importance as an assistance institution, not only in the hospital field but also as a facility that fed poor prisoners, assisted abandoned children, and managed cemeteries. The research explored the connections between the Misericórdia of Rio Grande and the local elites, demonstrating that the providers and benefactors were part of this select group in the local society, and that occupying these positions of power enhanced social visibility, serving as an important mechanism for the local elites in the nineteenth-century society. This situation was a common phenomenon in the establishment of a Misericórdia and unique in its forms and criteria for social relations. The thesis also aimed to analyze the demarcation of power through the representation of the images of eleven benefactors whose profiles were outlined. These benefactors are immortalized in the form of a painting in the hall of honor, a space of visibility for the institution and of fundamental importance for its management. Additionally, the work sought to verify the role of the providers and benefactors of the Misericórdia in the political arena and in other assistance institutions in the city of Rio Grande.