PARAMAÇÔNIC INSTITUTIONS IN BAHIA: THE CASE STUDY OF THE SOCIEDADE MONTE PIO DOS ARTISTAS CACHOEIRANOS (1870-1890)
Assistentialism. Masonry. Abolitionism. Cachoeira, Bahia
The Masonic fraternity in the nineteenth century allowed the installation of paramasonic organizations for non-Masons who, despite following the same philosophical convictions of the lodges, were beyond their rituals. This dissertation is the case study of one of these institutions; the Sociedade Monte Pio dos Artistas Cachoeiranos (SMAC), founded in 1874 in the city of Cachoeira, Recôncavo Baiano. It was intended to assist its members in disability, illness, prison and old age, in addition to providing a lifetime pension in the event of death, for their dependents. Freemason members of Monte Pio founded the Capitular Masonic Lodge Charity and Secret in 1878 in that city. Just as they also shortly after formed the Sociedade Libertadora Cachoeirana (SLC). Both Monte Pio and Libertadora were socially heterogeneous and, although some of their members professed abolitionist ideals, they were slavers. Also the political and ideological differences, between conservatives, liberals and later republicans, were noticed within these welfare and abolitionist entities. This dissertation deals with the superposition of these institutions and the complex network of their sociability.