MEMORY AND TESTIMONY IN BAPTISM OF BLOOD, BY FREI BETTO

Abstract

This article aims to discuss memory and testimony in the book Baptism of Blood, by Frei Carlos Alberto Libânio Christo, aka Frei Betto, based on the intersection between memory and testimony. To better understand the relationship presented in this work, we resort to the concepts of memory and testimony in light of studies by Bérgson (1999); Halbwachs (1990); Sarmento-Pantoja (2019, 2021); Seligmann-Silva (2001, 2003) and others. In the case of Baptism of Blood, we studied the testimony from the perspective of values, ethics and respect for individuals, thus imbued in the Dominican order. It is a narrative of resistance by Frei Betto, which stands out for narrating his and his confreres' experience during the Brazilian civil-military dictatorship. This account of memories is presented in the testimony through testis, superstes and arbiter. The first is the one who witnesses the facts narrated, but is not the survivor; the second is the one who witnesses what he experienced, he is also the survivor; and the last, as Sarmento-Pantoja highlights, is the one who has the power to narrate while knowing the fact that was previously narrated to him. As a result, we observed that testimonial voices help to understand the memory and experiences of Dominicans, lived during the Brazilian civil-military dictatorship.