Catholic Church and World War I: the case of the German friars of the Province of Santo Antônio in Pernambuco (1915-1918)

Abstract

The present article analyzes conflicts between 1915 and 1918 involving German friars established in the Province of Santo Antônio in Pernambuco, Brazil. Mobilizations against these religious figures emerged in Recife and the city of Pesqueira, located in the agreste region of Pernambuco, as a direct result of Brazil’s involvement in the issues surrounding World War I. Most of these friars, originating from Saxony, a province in Germany, had arrived in Brazil in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the mission of assisting the Catholic Church in its evangelization efforts. However, their lives underwent a radical transformation with the onset of the war, particularly following the incident in April 1917, when the Brazilian ship Paraná was torpedoed by German submarines off the coast of France, resulting in the death of three Brazilian crew members. This event led to Brazil breaking its neutrality and entering the war in October 1917. From that point onward, society began to view these German friars with suspicion, threatening them and opposing their presence in civil sectors—including some Catholics—and within the state bureaucracy. Analyzing various sources, such as newspapers, convent reports, police records, and chronicle books, reveals the growing anti-German sentiment targeting the Franciscan friars. During those years, Archbishop Dom Sebastião Leme intervened to shield these religious figures from popular fury and to ease tensions among Catholics.