Pasaportes de caridad: las "cartas de guía" de las Misericordias portuguesas (Siglos XVII-XIX)

Abstract

El presente trabajo estudia las cartas de guías, emanadas de las Misericordias portuguesas entre los siglos XVII y XIX. A través de su estudio se pretende destacar su importancia y significado para los sectores de la población más necesitados. Sin estatuto de obra de caridad, el despacho de cartas de guía se desarrollaba en todas las Santas Casas estudiadas, actuando entre ellas a través de un mecanismo de relevo. Las cartas de guía eran documentos entregados a los pobres que se hallaban de tránsito o que comenzaban un viaje, abriendo las puertas de la caridad a la institución de asistencia más próxima, conformándose, de esta manera, una cadena de solidaridad en torno a los más desfavorecidos, formada por toda la red de Misericordias portuguesas.

This work goes through the “cartas de guia” given by the Portuguese “Misericórdias” between the 17th and the 19th centuries and intends to show their meaning .and importance to the needy in spite of not being formally considered charity work, the “cartas de guia” were given by all the “Santas Casas” we have studied and they were highly important to the poor. These letters were a common practice in these institutions and they were given to the poor who were moving or who intended to move, and they also opened the doors of charity in the nearest charity institution. There the poor were given the essential (goods) and a “carta de guia” was given to them. This procedure was repeated until the poor arrived at their destiny. This way it was possible to connect all the links in the solidarity chain formed by all the “Misericórdias” in favour of the poor.