There are many possible approaches to examining the centennial publication Brotéria. The historiographical aspect is one of the defining features of this publication, though it neither emerged nor was explicitly presented until recently. Even now, it continues to be published as a history journal. The uninterrupted presence of the publication in the Portuguese publishing landscape—apart from a brief pause in 1911—may obscure the dual trajectory underlying Brotéria 's history. On one hand, it underwent several transformations, including a significant shift in 1925, which had a profound and lasting impact, cementing the journal’s relevance in Portuguese cultural history over the last century. On the other hand, it remains fundamentally the same publication founded in late 1902. While its content has changed, the original purpose envisioned by its founders persists. Brotéria was first published in 1902 with the subtitle Revista de Ciências Naturais do Colégio de S. Fiel [Journal of Natural Sciences of the College of São Fiel], referring to the Jesuit-run College of São Fiel in Louriçal do Campo, Castelo Branco. This academic and scientific orientation is far removed from the cultural journal it became in 1925. However, the intention explicitly stated in its first issue—to contribute to "the progress of the natural sciences in Portugal”—was imbued with an epistemological perspective that was simultaneously evangelising. The same text described the development of these sciences as “like giving a hand to intelligence to raise it to the supreme truth that is God.” Its title also reflected this purpose, evoking the prestigious Portuguese naturalist Félix da Silva Avelar, better known by the pseudonym he added to his surname, Avelar Brotero (1744–1828), who was also a Catholic cleric and deacon. This choice highlighted the compatibility between religious experience and the scientific spirit and activity as two distinct fields that could nonetheless engage in dialogue, both in the past and the present. The journal sought to counter the combative rhetoric of pamphleteering scientism, which equated Jesuitism and Congregationalism with obscurantism. It did so not with defensive apologetics in favour of religion but with something new: the development of solid scientific studies to support its anthropological and epistemological vision.

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