To a large extent, the fact that Father Antonio Vieira (1608-1697) is still seen as a man who was divided among very diverse actions, politically ambitious, temperamental, contradictory, driven by chimeras, slightly attracted by his own eloquence, but at the same time as somebody with a great character; brave and decided, is due to father Vieira's biography written by the Portuguese historian João Lúcio de Azevedo (1855-1933). This image has been so firmlysettled that it is now difficult to think of different convincing interpretations of father Vieira's actions. New biographies have done nothing but provide more information about the same terms. As a matter of fact, when I tried, in several works, to oppose to certain periodological and psychologizing divisions that seemed to determine a large part of Vieira's readings, it was especially that biography what I had to face. What narrative procedures make Vieira's biography so particularly convincing? That is the question that I try to answer in this article. 85271292De Abreu, C., (1954) Correspondência de Capistrano de Abreu., , Prefacio de José Honório Rodrigues. Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro,em três volumesAzevedo, J.L.DeA., (1992) História de Antônio Vieira., , Clássica EditoraBuarque De Holanda, S., (2008) Perspectivas, , OrganizaÇão de Pedro Meira Monteiro e João Kennedy Eugênio,SP/RJ: Editora da Unicamp/ eduerj(1963) Dicionário de História de Portugal, , dirigido por Joel Serrão. Iniciativas Editoriais