Brazil, an empire of South America. See Amer- ica.
I. Church History. — In 1500 Brazil was taken pos- session of by a Portuguese admiral, who was soon fol- lowed by some Franciscan monks, most of whom were, however, killed by the Indian tribes. In 1540 the first Jesuits came to Brazil, who succeeded in establishing a large number of missions. The most celebrated among them were Anchieta (q. v.) and Vieyra (q. v.). The Inquisition never gained a firm footing in Brazil. In the eighteenth century French philosophy found m my adherents, and even among the clergy a part}' was formed, led by Father Peiso, which demanded the abolition of celibacy and other radical reforms. The government nominated a member of this party, Dr. Moura, for the bishopric of Rio de Janeiro, but the pope refused to confirm the appointment, and, as in this question Home was sustained by the Brazilian I bambers, the government had to yield. Of late yens the Roman party has gained in strength, and several Roman Catholic (ultramontane) newspapers have been printed. Still a majority of the Brazilian paper- are liberal, and oppose all extreme ultramon- i me ■ iews.
The first Protestants settled in Brazil in the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century, while a part of the country was under the rule of the French and the Dutch, but after the re-establishn eat of Hie Portuguese dominion (1654) Protestantism was entirely extermi- nated. From that time until 1808 Protestants were forbidden t<> Bettle in Brazil. They then received the liberty to build churches, but only on condition of making no proselytes. Greater rights were conceded
to the German and Swiss emigrants, who were invited and encouraged by the government to settle in the ag- ricultural districts. The government promised to pay to the Protestant clergymen and teachers a salary, and to establish a Supreme Protestant Consistory at Rio. The number of the Protestant immigrants is already considerable — the whole immigration amounted in 1858 to about 30,000 souls in 44 colonies— and forms, next to the British and Dutch possessions in Guiana, the largest nucleus of a native Protestant population in South America.
II. Ecclesiastical Statistics. — The area of Brazil is about 4,000,000 square miles; its population in 1856 amounted to 7,677,800, of which only 23 per cent, are of European descent. The entire native population, ex- cept the free Indians (about 4 per cent, of the total pop- ulation), belong to the Roman Catholic Church, which has one archbishop, viz. of Bahia, and 11 bishops, viz. of Ceara, Cuyaba, Diamantina, Goyas, Maranhao, Mi- nas, Para, Pernambuco, S. Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Rio Grande do Sul. The Church has no property of her own, but bishops and priests are paid by the state. The number of priests is very small, and all the bish- ops complain of the difficulty of finding a sufficient number of candidates for the priesthood. The num- ber of convents is limited. There are eleven theolog- ical seminaries, and the erection of two theological fac- ulties has been resolved upon. The ecclesiastical ju- risdiction of the bishops, which was formerly very ex- tensive, is now (since 1834) very limited.
The English congregation of Rio dates with the cen- tury, and numbers 4000 to 5000. There are English congregations at Bahia and Pernambuco. The German Protestants in Rio in 1863 hid a school, and numbered about 2500 members. The largest Protestant congre- gation is in San Leopoldo, which has 12,000 (German) inhabitants, and three Protestant ministers. The O. S. Presb. Church occupied Rio as a station in 1860, and had, in 1865, stations at San Paulo and Rio Clara. In Dec, 1865, the members of the mission formed the " Presbytery of Rio de Janeiro," which in Sept., 1866, was connected with the Synod of Baltimore. Alto- gether, in 1863, Brazil had 24 Protestant clergymen (3 English, 5 American, and 12 German) in 25 congre- gations (3 English, 5 American, and 17 German). See Kidder and Fletcher, Brazil and the Brazilians (Phil. 1857, 8vo); Schem, Eccl. Year-book, 1850, p. 179; 20/fi Ann. Rep. of Board of For. Miss, of (O. £.) Presb. Ch. (N. Y. 1866) ; Amer. Annual Cyclopaedia, 1864, p. 189.
Bread (Cnb, le'chem; aproc), a word of far more extensive meaning among the Hebrews than at pres- ent with us. There are passages in which it appears to be applied to all kinds of victuals (Luke xi, 3) ; but it more generally denotes all kinds of baked and pastry articles of food. It is also used, however, in the more limited sense of bread made from wheat or barley, for rye is little cultivated in the East. The preparation of bread as an article of food dates from a very early period : it must not, however, be inferred from the use of the word lechem in Gen. iii, 19 ("bread," A. V.) that it was known at the time of the fall, the word there occurring in its general sense of food: the earliest undoubted instance of its use is found in Gen. xviii, 6.
1. Materials. — The corn or grain ("OS?, she'ber, "J1!, dagan") employed was of various sorts: the best bread was made of wheat, which, after being ground, pro- duced the "flour" or "meal" (J"toj3, ke'mach; dXiv- pov ; Judg. vi, 19 ; 1 Sam. i, 24 ; 1 Kings iv, 22; xvii, 12, 14), and when sifted the "fine flour" (rbb, so'leth, more fully b^BH T^b, Exod. xxix, 2; or Thb n^p, Gen. xviii, 6; aepiSaKig) usually employed in the sacred offerings (Exod. xxix, 40; Lev. ii, 1; Ezek. xlvi, 14), and in the meals of the wealthv (1 Kings iv, 22 ; 2 Kings vii, 1 ; Ezek. xvi, 13, 19; Rev. xviii, 13). " Barley" was used only by the very poor (John vi,