Em busca do santo vivo

Abstract

In a roughly organized queue in front of the main door of the monastery of the Franciscan friars of Canindé, many pilgrims dispute a space to stare, through a lock, at something that is grand for them: the living Saint. But the lock has been changed. That door, now, opens up only from the inside. Nowadays, that search happens in all the sacred corners of the City. The living Saint is the category of those who walk searching the hidden sacred, transmitted, according to popular tradition, and known through five stages: The living saint chooses the Sacred place; he confirms his presence over there; he walks with the devotee; he identifies himself with him and hides himself. This article itends to show, mainly through field research, how the devotees find means to recreate their lives, their place in the Sacred things and to do memory of their identity.