01782nas a2200253   4500000000100000008004100001260000900042653001100051653002600062653002600088653002600114653003600140653002600176653002500202653002100227653001200248653001800260100001300278245006700291300001100358490000700369520113800376022001401514       2003                            d  c200310aBrazil10aHistory, 18th Century10aHistory, 19th Century10aHistory, 20th Century10aHistory, Early Modern 1451-160010aHistory, Modern 1601-10aHospitals, Religious10aHospitals, Urban10aleprosy10aPublic health1 aSmith TH00aA monument to Lazarus: the leprosy hospital of Rio de Janeiro.  a143-600 v103 a<p>Soon after the Portuguese made landfall in 1500, Europeans and, later, African slaves introduced leprosy, and Saint Lazarus, the patron saint of its victims, into Brazil. Social and political pressure mounted by the middle of the eighteenth century in the city of Rio de Janeiro to remove those unfortunates from the city's streets even before the move of Brazil's capital in 1763. Frei Antôniom the bishop of Rio, founded the venerable hospital that year in the neighborhood of São Cristóvão, He requested that the Irmandade do Santissimo Sacramento da Candelária provide oversight and administration. The brotherhood continues to honor its covenant of 239 years ago. The history of this hospital provides insight into the complex relationships that existed between the citizenry and church and state. Rio's leprosy hospital, now the Hospital Frei Antônio, had an important role in the evolution of the health care professions, progress in medical science, and the genesis of the hygienic movement in Brazil. This study also contributes to the history of a disease that persists in 2002 Brazil as a public health issue.</p>  a0104-5970