Lent sermons and knowledge of self

The study of sacred oratory in colonial Brazil is a heuristic field of great interest to cultural history, being that sermons were a very important source of doctrine transmission and of behavior modeling in a society in which speech was the main mode of knowledge diffusion. This article points to clear evidence of the importance and the scope of Lent preaching activities in the context of Brazil in the 16 to 17 century. The article also enlightens the functions taken by these activities: the knowledge of self of the listeners, and the reform of customs of emitters and receivers.