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Charles Marvin Fairchild (SFS '48) Memorial
Gallery and Woodstock Theological Center Library
September 17 to December 2, 2007
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Drawn from the special collections divisions
of Woodstock Theological Center Library and Lauinger
Library, this exhibition brings together over thirty-seven
historic books and manuscripts whose authors, editors,
publishers or subject matter are linked with Portugal.
The selection includes books published in eighteen cities
from eight European countries, representing six different
languages. A collection of Jesuit letters in Latin adds
to the exhibit including a letter from a Jesuit missionary
in Bahia, Brazil dated 1677. Individual sections focus
on Jesuit martyrs; Jesuit philosophy on Catholic doctrine;
Jesuit philosophy on laws, rules, and procedures; religious
texts; Portuguese journeys; and political problems as
depicted by the Portuguese.
The Portuguese are well-known for their sea exploration
and their presence both geographically and intellectually
around the world. Their important contributions to world
cultures were celebrated this summer in the Smithsonian’s
exhibition Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World
in the 16th and 17th Centuries. Focusing on the literary
evidence of this extraordinary religious, civic and cultural
cross-pollination, the Georgetown exhibition highlights
distinguished authors in the areas of cannon law: Agostinho
Barbosa and Pedro Barbosa; theology: Bartolomeu dos Mártires
and Jerónimo Osório; and philosophy, represented
by the several tomes of commentaries on Aristotle's writings
by the Collegium Conimbricensis led by Pedro Fonseca.
This dissemination of knowledge is furthermore marked
by its global influence from the Americas through António
Vieira, and his famous sermons written in Brazil; to
the East, through the travel descriptions of Fernão
Mendes Pinto's Peregrinação (Pilgrimage)
and accounts on the Jesuit martyrs by António
Cardim and Álvaro Semedo.
Bearing in mind the relatively small number of translations
made from Portuguese historically, our hope is that this
exhibit will reveal to its public a more precise answer
to the important question of the spread of Portuguese
culture beyond its own borders and language. Its intent
is to demonstrate the significant role of the Portuguese,
both in Europe and the World, in every aspect relating
to communication, from the creation and production of
a book to the transmission of thought and knowledge,
independent of language, format, or political boundaries.
Michael J. Ferreira and Patricia
A. Soler, Guest Curators
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