In Portuguese America, the brotherhoods were essential to the expansion and maintenance of Catholic worship (Salles, [1963] 1992; Boschi, 1986; Scarano, 1978). Since the beginning of colonization, many brotherhoods had been founded by (or for) Africans and Creoles. In fact, the same observation can also be made for other regions of the Americas where the Catholic religion was imposed more systematically and slavery brought together many Africans and their descendants (Ciro, 2000, pp. 190-214; Garcia, 2000, pp. 137-69;  
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[^0]:    2 Attempts to compile a complete, if not exhaustive, list of the brotherhoods devoted to the Rosary of Our Lady in Portugal, exclusive of blacks and freed slaves, may well suffer from significant omissions. To access such lists see: Santa Maria, 1707, books I to VII; Brásio, 1944, pp. 99-104; Lahon, 1999a, p. 70.
3 Petição da Irmandade de São Francisco Xavier, 1701, Cx 16, doc. 17, Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino, Angola.
4 José Carlos Venâncio describes this as 'a chapel belonging to the Jesuits, especially to serve their slaves'. I believe the author has confused this church with the existing chapel at the college, since no known documentary records, to date, carry any reference to these links. Bishop Soveral's establishment of the brotherhood and 'black parish' demonstrates the subordination of the Black Church to the diocese, which is confirmed by consulting the eighteenth century provisions (Venâncio, 1996, p. 39).
5 Reports by Governor Fernão de Sousa. Biblioteca da Ajuda, Codex 51-VIII-31, sheets 19-29, vol. II (see Cadornega [1680] 1972, p. 28).  
Germeten, 2013; Graubart, 2011, pp. 1-22; Valerio, 2020, pp. 1-22). The oldest known statutes suggest that the first brotherhoods of the Rosary established on Brazilian soil were those of Rio de Janeiro, Belém and Bahia, founded respectively in 1639, 1682 and 1685 (Carneiro, 1964, p. 88).