João de Deus - Lisboa, Portugal
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manchanegra
N 38° 42.906 W 009° 09.522
29S E 486202 N 4285173
João de Deus was a Portuguese Poet best know for his work as a Pedagogue.
Waymark Code: WMD7E6
Location: Lisboa, Portugal
Date Posted: 11/30/2011
Views: 10
João de Deus Nogueira Ramos (Sao Bartolomeu de Messines, March 8, 1830 - Lisbon, 11 January 1896), better known as João de Deus , was an eminent lyric poet, (considered at the time the first of its time), and a pedagogue proposing a method of teaching reading based on book written by him, the "Cartilha Maternal", which had wide popular acceptance and is still used. Enjoyed extraordinary popularity was almost a cult and object of many tributes adn respects while he was still alive and upon his death, buried in the National Pantheon. It was considered the poet of love.
João de Deus was born in Sao Bartolomeu de Messines on 8 March 1830, son of Gertrude Isabel Martins and Pedro José dos Ramos.
He was the fourth of fourteen brothers and the socio-economic conditions of his family did not allow him to aspire to a university career. He studied Latin in his homeland and entered the Seminary of Coimbra, (at the time,the only way for further studies to less wealthy) . In 1850, at nineteen, having no vocation for the ecclesiastical life, he entered the University of Coimbra as a law student.
Preferring the fine arts to the science of law involved in the bohemian life of Coimbra. He had a troubled academic career and only graduated after ten years.
Having no interest in advocacy he was a journalist in Beja and in his homeland before moving to Lisbon in 1868.
In Lisbon he had a dificult life. He spent most of his time in cafes, in constant tertulias without trying to find a stable way of earning a living. To survive he performed translations, wrote sermons and hymns for religious ceremonies and various literary collaborations, and, t is said, among other activities, tailored lady clothes.
In these tertulias came the idea of attempting the election of Joãode Deus a deputy and in this way he get a way to live.
The idea was carried forward, it was difficult but he came out victorious.
Soon after being elected he married Guilhermina das Mercês Battaglia, of Italian descent, and had two sons: José do Espírito Santo Battaglia Ramos, who would be 1st Viscount of São Bartolomeu de Messines and João de Deus Ramos, who would continue his pedagogical work, and a daughter, Clotilde Battaglia Ramos.
Within the next few years the writer turned his attention to educational problems, and in his "Cartilha maternal" (1876) first expressed the conclusions to which his study of Pestalozzi and Fröbel had led him. This patriotic, pedagogical apostolate was a misfortune for Portuguese literature; his educational mission absorbed João de Deus completely.
He died in Lisbon on January 11, 1896, was accorded a public funeral and was buried in the National Pantheon, the Jeronymite church at Belém, where repose the remains of Camões. His remains were later moved to the Church of Santa Engrácia, the new National Pantheon.
Next to Camões, Pessoa and perhaps Garrett, no Portuguese poet has been more widely read, more profoundly admired than João de Deus.
Adapted from wikipedia
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