Abstract
A discussion is proposed concerning the founding of Santa Casa de Misericórdia of Campos dos Goytacazes and its ramifications in local society, as well as a brief study of its first two directors and their networks (1792-1795). The institution was opened in 1792 at the height of upheavals in Europe. In Portugal, the chief of police under Maria I, Diogo Inácio de Pina Manique, planned reforms for the public health administration. An analysis is proposed of the issues that motivated the founding of said institution and how it related to the social and political dynamics typical of the ancien régime, which were still deep-rooted in colonial society, and which remained intact into the nineteenth century.
welfare; networks; ancien régime