The Ralph della Cava Gift on Padre Cícero and Popular Religion in Brazilian Northeast

The Ralph della Cava collection includes materials on the social, religious, and political history of the Brazilian Northeast. There are hundreds of late 19th-century and early 20th-century archival and printed sources, many rare and unique, that deal with the life and times of Padre Cícero Romão Batista (1844-1934) and the popular religious movement he inspired in Brazil. Materials include Padre Cícero’s personal correspondence and that of diverse ecclesiastical authorities. There are also rare photographs, broadsides, taped interviews, and artifacts (such as medals, statues, and similar religious images). The collection was assembled over the course of more than forty years, but especially from 1962 until 1975 when Dr. della Cava undertook his own major work on the life and legacy of Padre Cícero and of the religious and social movement that started in Juazeiro do Norte (also known as Joaseiro and Juázeiro do Norte).