Based on unpublished manuscript sources, produced by the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament of Santo Estêvão de Alfama, we aim to evaluate the institution’s role in providing assistance to the poor, studying the regiments and the daily practice of assigning alms to certain groups of destitute people. Being confraternities specialized in activities linked to the cult and the souls of the deceased, we aim to investigate the impact of charitable activities on the institution’s finances. Finally, there was a concern in verifying who were the beneficiaries and the motives that had them led to be included in the category of the poor.
