De alpha à l'oméga: l'ABC poétique dans l'expression de la foi chrétienne

The alphabetic acrostic (Poetic ABC) known as A.B.C. de cordel to a centuries-old traditional poetic form. It is an enumerative, descriptive, and sometimes narrative poetic work that praises the constituent parts of a specific subject from "A to Z". The diachronic and thematic study of a vast body of work spanning the history of
Christendom shows that the alphabetical letter is supreme in the composition of psalms, hymns, and songs in the vernacular. It has a double effect: on the one hand, it offers the faithful the effect of mystical wholeness, on the other hand, it is a powerful support for memorization which has served the development of the Christian faith in West and to the development of the Marian tradition which has been preserved from the 6th century in the Byzantine Church to the present day in the texts collected in Brazil in the oral tradition.