Procurators, religious orders and cultural circulation in the Early Modern Portuguese Empire: printed works, images (and relics) from Japan in António Cardim’s journey to Rome (1644-1646)

Abstract

This study looks at different aspects pertaining to the circulation of texts, images, and objects in the context of the Early Modern Iberian empires. More specifically, it examines the functions of the procurators of religious orders, who travelled to Europe from the edges of the empires and assumed a privileged role connecting Europe with the Asian, African and American territories, in terms of written, visual and material culture. To this end, the study analyzes the Jesuit António Francisco Cardim’s expedition from Macau, in the furthest reaches of the Portuguese Empire, to Lisbon and Rome during the 1640s. This analysis seeks to understand the strategies through which the writings, images, and relics of the Martyrs of Japan that he carried with him served as instruments to make the realities of Japan and Japanese Christianity present in metropolitan and/or Roman environments.