Discursos religiosos impressos em Juiz de Fora: o Espiritismo nos jornais ‘O Lince’ e ‘O Médium’ (1920-1940)

Abstract

Spiritism gained space in Brazilian society in the second half of the 19th century. The periodicals of the time publicized the novelty coming from France, which aroused the curiosity of readers, generated public debates and many speeches in its defense. The materials found in printed publications are valuable sources, to know the subjects guided by the spiritists and their adversaries. In Juiz de Fora, the spiritist doctrine expanded in the 19th century and, quickly, the spiritists of the city consolidated an organization capable of sustaining the creation of houses, study groups and welfare and press societies, which worked for the local maintenance of their denomination of faith. In this sense, this study sought, as its main scope, to analyze two periodicals: ‘O Lince’ (1912 - 1979) and ‘O Médium’ (1932 - ), which had, as their creator, the journalist Jesus de Oliveira (1891 - 1967 ). In this analysis, we tried to identify, at first, which circumstances of the spiritist trajectory, object of this study, allowed the emergence of religious discourses published in both newspapers. And, in the second, the methodology of Discourse Analysis was used, with application of Semiolinguistics, to deal with the elaboration of discourses present in different articles published in newspapers. In this way, we sought to understand the importance of these newspapers for the consolidation and defense of Spiritism in Juiz de Fora. And it was concluded that these newspapers were fundamental for the consolidation of the spiritist doctrine in Juiz de Fora.