Prosecuting a Possession Priest

Case: Trial of José Sebastião de Rosa

Case Synopsis: 19th century Brazil was captivated by Spiritism, a movement originating in France concerned with spirits and spiritual possession. The growing popularity of such practices of spiritual possession among Afro-Brazilians alarmed colonial authorities, as Afro-religions and ritual gatherings that produced states of possession were feared as potential sources of insurrections by the enslaved and lower-classes. As laws repressing the religious practices of afro-Brazilians spread, the juridical regulation of religion intersected with issues of class, sexuality, and race in the widely sensationalized case of Juca Rosa.

In 1870, Judge of the 2nd District, Miguel José Tavares, received a letter accusing José Sebastião de Rosa, known as “Juca Rosa,” an Afro-Brazilian possession priest, of practicing false magic. Tavares prosecuted Rosa for “charlatanism” and fraud (estelionato), claiming that he was attempting to illegally and immorally profit by representing himself as a bearer of false magical powers. However, with no legal definition of “religion” outside the Church, the specter of his syncretic and un-categorizable religion raised legal debates in the court over what constitutes “Religion” at all. Ultimately, central to his conviction were fears of sexual deviance, material gain, and of his “stealing” from Catholicism for nefarious ends. Rosa was ultimately sentenced to six years of prison and hard labor. 

This case originates in the work of Paul C. Johnson.