Em Busca do Paraíso : o contexto monástico das narrativas de São Brandão, Santo Amaro e Trezenzónio (séculos XIII a XV)

Abstract

Among the most common ecclesiastical productions of the Middle Ages are the so-called imaginary travel narratives, in which stories of people traveling to distant locations are recorded, where terrestrial landscapes mix with places beyond. The imaginary travel accounts of Brandão, Amaro and Trezenzónio are part of this fascinating literature, which explores the borders between the earthly and spiritual worlds. They were important sources of inspiration, providing notions of experience and models of behavior in the monastic context of Alcobaça, between the 13th and 15th centuries. The stories of Brandão, Amaro and Trezenzónio describe the medieval Christian search for salvation, represented by the arrival in a place of happiness, called Paradise, and perfectly served monastic pedagogy, as they reflected the concerns and practices of monastic life, especially, the monastic ideals of perfection and individual salvation.Furthermore, these texts praise monasticism, reaffirming two fundamental dimensions of Cistercian monastic ideology: the eremitic dimension (the return to the “desert”) and the eschatological dimension (the search for Paradise).