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Play of Saint Lawrence

play by Joseph of Anchieta in Portuguese, Spanish, and Tupi

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ124499774 ↗
Source-derived summary

Play of Saint Lawrence (Portuguese: Auto de São Lourenço) is one of the most well-known plays by Joseph of Anchieta. It is written in Portuguese, Spanish, Old Tupi, and Old Guarani, reflecting the social reality of the time. It records ethnographic information, such as the tearful salutation, as well as toponyms and sparsely documented episodes, such as the Battle of the Canoes. Play of Saint Lawrence was first performed in Saint Lawrence Chapel, in what would later become the city of Niterói. According to Armando Cardoso, this would have occurred on 10 August 1587, during Anchieta's visit as provincial. The work was adapted by Guilherme de Almeida.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Play of Saint Lawrence” as play by Joseph of Anchieta in Portuguese, Spanish, and Tupi. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Play, Saint and Lawrence.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1587—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Play, Saint and Lawrence providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Play of Saint Lawrence”, the useful work is to connect “play by Joseph of Anchieta in Portuguese, Spanish, and Tupi” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q124499774. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1587.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Play of Saint Lawrence”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Play of Saint Lawrence primary sources, Play of Saint Lawrence archive and Play research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Play of Saint Lawrence”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Play of Saint Lawrence” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.