As Virgens Marias da Nova Espanha e do Arcebispado de Lima durante os séculos XVI e XVII: entre a idolatria e a santidade

The aim of this paper is to analyze two saints named Virgin of Guadalupe, in New Spain, and Our Lady of Copacabana, in the Archdiocese of Lima, that lived during the Colonial Period, between the XVI and XVIII century. We seek to understand how the process of transition from the idolatry to sanctity was made, using colonial chronicles. We noticed that, in Peru as well as in Mexico, these writings followed a narrative pattern, according to the historic period. At first there was a silent period, after that some mentions to the virgins as idolatries and finally the consolidation of the catholic worship to them. We will analyze these processes and the reasons that made them being seen as idolatry and then accepted by the church, and considered catholic saints and symbols of devotion. We believe that the Religious Reformation, the Council of Trent and the Limenses Councils were extremely important ways for this change in the conception of the two virgins in Peru and New Spain. In this way we intend to analyze these processes and understand how they interfered in the writers’ view making possible the consolidation of the sanctity.