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)

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.Este trabalho explora alguns aspectos relacionados com a circulação de textos, imagens e objectos no contexto dos impérios ibéricos da Idade Moderna. Em particular, examina o papel que, a tal efeito, desempenharam os procuradores das ordens religiosas, que se deslocavam até a Europa desde os confins imperiais, assumindo uma posição privilegiada à hora de conectar, desde o plano da cultura escrita, visual e material, o mundo europeu e os espaços asiáticos, africanos e americanos. Neste sentido, a figura do jesuíta António Francisco Cardim e a viagem que, desde Macau, na fronteira do império asiático português, fez até Lisboa e Roma durante a década de 1640, permitem observar estratégias nas quais os escritos, as imagens e as relíquias dos mártires do Japão que levou consigo serviram de instrumentos para tornar presente nos contextos metropolitanos e/ou romanos uma realidade localizada no outro lado do planeta