Praesentias: asceticism and liminality in Benedictine contemplative communities in Mercosur

Abstract

Monastic orders represent a particular social group in the LatinAmerican religious field highly influenced by the Catholic Church. This articlefocuses on monks belonging to the Benedictine Order. It was established in thesixteenth century in Brazil and later, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, inArgentine and other countries of Hispanic America like Chile, Uruguay, andParaguay. In this study I both review the history of these monastic communitiesand their specific lifestyle marked by a strong ascetic character. I argue that it is thedaily exercise of such a practice that transforms monks in collective agents in anongoing state of liminality, and their monasteries in symbolic spaces for cultactivity.