The article suggests a biography of Don José Antonio de Guadalupe, bishop of Rio de Janeiro from 1725 to 1740, based on the analysis of several documents, mainly his pastoral writings. These are not only considered religious practices, but a literary genre, framed by a set of procedures and conventions that pattern its reading and acceptance. Through the reconstruction of that agent's path, it is my aim to highlight how his action and memory contribute to the devotion to São Gonçalo de Amarante, and the character of the catholic practices in Rio de Janeiro and its surroundings by the different social groups. It is also my objective to show the devotion and the feast of São Gonçalo by analyzing the connection between the catholic hierarchy and the pardo devotees of the saint, gathered in a brotherhood located in the village of São Sebastião, in nineteenth century São Paulo. The analysis of the São Gonçalo Brotherhood Pledge (Compromisso da Irmandade de São Gonçalo) evinces the types and modes of the catholic beliefs in the colonial society.
saint; pastoral writings; pardos (free men of color).