This dissertation is a study of the process by which the Third Order of the Penitents of St Francis in Recife was constituted in 1695, providing a space for the social legitimation of the more prosperous homens de negócio (traders), many of whom came from the north of Portugal, in the mercantile community which emerged in Recife in the period following the Dutch occupation of the captaincy of Pernambuco (1630-1654). Through a survey of the biographies of the principal leaders of the lay Order of Franciscans, the analysis focuses on the upward social mobility of men who were considered to be sem qualidade de origem (of poor background) and with defeito mecânico (manual labourers), their investment in symbols of power like the Capela Dourada and the Ash Wednesday Procession, and their participation the political conflicts with the nobreza da terra (landed nobility) of Olinda, which led to the autonomy of Recife and the establishment of the Câmara (municipal council) of the new vila (town), the locus of local power in Portuguese America.