Misericórdias - Vinculum Information System Guide

Chronological span

The first misericórdia was founded in the city of Lisbon in August 1498 on the initiative of Queen Leonor, widow of King João II, becoming the model for subsequent institutions¹. From that date to 1910, there would be 436 misericórdias².

This typology of welfare institutions has been maintained to the present day³.

Normative documents (main)

Compromisso (constitution) of the Confraternity of the Misericórdia, dated 1516⁴;
Royal letter from Infante Henrique, dated 28 June 1564, by which he attributed the oversight of the Hospital de Todos os Santos to the Misericórdia of Lisbon⁵;
Regimento do Juiz dos Feitos das Misericórdia e Hospital de Todos-os-Santos of 18 December 1565⁶;
Warrant, dated 15 March 1614, which determines the procedures for the registration of documents relating to unfulfilled pious legacies from wills and the institution of chantries and morgados granted to Misericórdia and Hospital de Todos os Santos⁷;
Warrant, dated 27 August 1614, for the provedores of the comarcas to secretly supervise the Misericórdias’ compliance with pious obligations⁸;
Warrant, dated 13 January 1615, that the provedores of the comarcas secretly ascertain the ownership of hospitals attached to the misericórdias and whether the latter complied with the pious obligations attached to the former⁹.

Competences

General

The main function of Misericórdia of Lisbon, just like its subsequent counterparts, was the practice of charity through “fulfilling the fourteen works of mercy”¹⁸

On entails

The misericórdias received legacies from the faithful, which might include the administration of the entails instituted by the legatees in their churches¹⁹. In the same way, the administration of chantries might revert to the misericórdias, whether by royal decision—as in the case of the Misericórdia of Lisbon—or by the stipulations of the respective founding instrument, generally foreseen once the possibilities of succession within the families of the founders had been exhausted²⁰.

The link between the Misericórdia of Lisbon and entailed property was reinforced by the oversight that this institution exercised over Hospital de Todos os Santos and the chantries located there or administered by it between 1564 and 1851²¹. During this period, its provedor and brothers could exercise the Hospital’s right of preference over the administration of any chantry of royal provision in the city and district of Lisbon²², a right confirmed by Filipe I in 1596²³.

In view of the strengthening in the institution’s capacity to administer entailed property from the second half of the sixteenth century onwards and its absence in earlier compromissos, this matter was statutorily regulated in 1600, when that year’s version of the Compromisso da Irmandade (…) determined that the provedor and the brothers of the Mesa could accept chantries, institutions, obligations, and agreements on property inheritances apart from those elected by the Brotherhood²⁴. The version of the Compromisso (…) of 1619 specified that the acceptance of wills instituting chantries and chaplains to serve them depended on reserving a part of the income established by the founder for the expenses of maintaining the institution’s church, “with advice from the junta”²⁵.

Institutional organisation and the roles of its agents with regard to entails

Institutional organisation

The misericórdias were made up of a provedor and irmãos (brothers) who managed its affairs, supported by a subordinate staff who were tasked with the day-to-day running of the institution³⁴.

The roles of its agents

Provedores and irmãos
The provedor and the irmãos of the Misericórdia of Lisbon were responsible for activating the right of preference in obtaining the administration of the chantries of royal provision in the city and district of Lisbon³⁵. The Compromisso (…) of 1619 established that these brothers had to make an annual general inspection after Christmas, including an inspection of the chantries located in the different churches in Lisbon administered by the Misericórdia³⁶. This same document determines that the acceptance of “chantries & institutions, or obligations of this quality” has to be done by the Mesa in “council”³⁷.

As the constitutions of the remaining misericórdias were based, especially in the early years, on the Misericórdia of Lisbon’s regulations³⁸, the clause on attributing to the Mesa the competence to accept new legacies and the assessment of their fulfilment featured in the constitutions of many other misericórdias, such as that of Porto³⁹.

Juiz dos Feitos of the Misericórdia and the Hospital de Todos os Santos
The statute on the Juiz dos Feitos of the Misericórdia and the Hospital de Todos os Santos (1565) contained an inhibitory clause so that this official would not review the accounts and have cognizance of the suits relating to the chantries of the city of Lisbon and its district, later integrated into the Ordenações Filipinas⁴⁰.

Solicitador das demandas
This official had to keep the Misericórdia of Lisbon’s copy of the registry book of wills and pious institutions that were in the possession of the scribes of the Juízo das Capelas e Resíduos, ordered to be made by warrant (alvará) of 15 March 1614⁴¹.

Relations with other institutions with regard to entails

Despite their lay constitution, these institutions maintained relationships with the ecclesiastical hierarchy. First and foremost, with the Papacy, from whom they could request the reduction of the pious obligations under their administration, the granting of indulgences and privileged altars in the churches of various misericórdias, and the ascription of these into parish institutions⁴² In the case of the prelates, these relationships extended to the granting of spaces, privileges, donations, and the regulation of the functioning of their churches in addition to the important prerogative of the ordinary to visit the churches of the misericórdias⁴³.

In the case of Lisbon, the award to Hospital de Todos os Santos of the unfulfilled pious legacies led to the “sharing” of information with the Juízo dos Resíduos e Capelas of Lisbon, so that the Misericórdia could control what it had to receive on account of the unfulfilled pious legacies⁴⁴.

The provedores of the comarcas ended up playing a role with respect to pious legacies⁴⁵, even though they could not “concern themselves” with the affairs of the Misericórdia, as stated in the Law of Execution of the Tridentine Council, dated 2 March 1568⁴⁶. As a result of the difficulties demonstrated by the misericórdias in fulfilling the liturgical duties associated with the patrimony they were in charge of, Filipe II determined, by a warrant of 27 August 1614, that the provedores of the comarcas should carry out, in secret, an enquiry to determine if the misericórdias “are fulfilling in all things the institutions and legacies, to which their income is applied, and if there is any scandal in this”⁴⁷.