José António Camões


Father José António Camões was a Portuguese Catholic priest, poet and historian. He wrote several works of satire, including his heroic satire O Testamento de D. Burro, Pai dos Asnos.

Early life

He was thought to be the son of friar Manuel de São Domingos, a Franciscan friar in the Convent of São Boaventura. Explused from his first job, he went to work for another farmer, where he accompanied the farmer's son, Manuel Fernandes de Barcelos in his studies.
By 1797, he was a professor of Latin in the parish of Santa Cruz. He later left for Terceira, where began his studies at the Convent of São Francisco; it was at this time that he adopted the surname, Camões. He was ordained on 20 October 1804 in Angra, by special appointment of the Captain-General, and became a professor of Latin Grammar to the island of Flores. With the permission of the parish, he was re-baptized on 16 July 1805 in Fajãzinha; one of his first acts as parish priest. He was very successful in his role as professor, attracting many students from Corvo and Faial.
In 1807, he was nominated vicar of the remote community of Ponta Delgada das Flores and ceased his activities as professor. While in Ponta Delgada, he was vice-vicar and then vicar, eventually attaining the role of ecclesiastical confessor for the islands of Flores and Corvo : a role which some found unpopular because of his illegitimate birth. In 1812 he became clerical examiner, and in 1813, the receiver-general for the church in Corvo.

Author

José António Camões' first published works developed as a response to his critics who had challenged his illegitimacy; in a weighty diatribe titled Sete Pecados Mortais he responded to his critics. He would write his seminal work O Testamento de D. Burro, Pai dos Asnos, an apparently autobiographical account of his life in prose. In it he described discrimination and maltreatment as a child and youth for being of illegitimate birth, and those events that had plagued his life: he was careful to skewer many in Florense society, especially the local clergy.
His manuscript circulated in the communities of Flores, but eventually reached the bishopric of Terceira, which was without a bishop at the time. The diocesanal cleric received a copy of the work, charged José António, and eventually stripped him of his roles as confessor and vicar of Ponta Delgada on 19 May 1813. Camões also received a summons to appear in Angra to justify his actions to the church prosecutor. He was accused of damaging the reputation of the church, but absolved, on 20 February 1815, after a humiliating trial. Although absolved, he was required to respond to the inquisitors of the Santa Sé. His role as vicar of Ponta Delgada, confessor and receiver for the islands were never reinstated. He solicited the intervention of the Captain-General, in order to be readmitted into his role as professor of Latin in Santa Cruz das Flores : he was reinstated in 1815.

Later life

In disgrace, with few friends or students, he lived off handouts from church services or colleagues, but generally little food: he died in Ponta Delgada on 18 January 1827.
José António Camões' manuscripts, for O Testamento de D. Burro, Pai dos Asnos and Sete Pecados Mortais, were posthumously re-printed in 1865 and 1883. His other works, particularly his sonnets were printed in the Jorgense on 1 June 1873. Francisco Ferreira Drummond included in his Anais da Ilha Terceira one sonnet and one poem. Camões is also referred to in Relatório das Cousas mais Notáveis que Havião nas Ilhas Flores e Corvo a report to the Captain-General in 1822.

Published works