O aspecto simbólico do arquivo pessoal de Dom Adriano Hypólito

We seek in the present article to analyze the relevance and uses of the personal archives of Dom Adriano Mandarino Hypólito, third bishop of the Nova Iguaçu Diocese in Rio de Janeiro, by means of sustaining an identity project aiming at supporting the practices and the image of the Diocese, linked to a progressive stance adopted by the bishop during his term as the Head of the Diocese Curia (1966-1994). In order to reach that goal we conducted a Case Study, choosing the bishop’s personal archive as its object, his years in charge of the Diocese as a temporal framework and the context of Nova Iguaçu in those days, as the spatial framework. We performed field research in the Diocesan Archives, under the custody of the Curia’s headquarters in Nova Iguaçu, home to his personal archives. We interviewed the head of the Diocesan Archive, Mr. Antônio de Menezes, and Ms. Sada, Dom Adriano’s right hand at that time. We identified a relevant projection of Dom Adriano’s image as a symbol of the struggle against the Brazilian civil-military dictatorship. We concluded that such projection is reinforced by the use of his personal archive, especially by agents from the Nova Iguaçu Diocesan Curia.