Silves created the Municipal Day of João de Deus, which will be celebrated on March 8, the date on which this poet and educator, born in São Bartolomeu de Messines, was born.
This decision was approved at a municipal meeting on February 22nd and then by the Municipal Assembly on March 5th.
«With the institution of this day, the Municipality of Silves intends to evoke and promote the memory of an illustrious personality of the municipality of Silves, either because he is a pedagogue who revolutionized the Portuguese educational scene in the fight against illiteracy, or also because revealing how a thinker and a poet, already at the time, respected and acclaimed in life by his peers», justifies Rosa Palma, mayor of Silves.
For the mayor, it is «not only a mission, but a privilege, for the municipality to be able to celebrate the life, talent and genius of such a unique and beloved personality of our municipality».
«On the other hand, the institution of this day comes to crown all the profound work of glorification of the poet and pedagogue that has been carried out by the Municipality of Silves, which last year, under the high patronage of the Presidency of the Republic, was edited , with her support, an important historical and historiographical (not biographical) study on the poet pedagogue – entitled «João de Deus immortal and timeless» – by the teacher Maria João Raminhos Duarte and the children's book of fables Joaninas, brilliantly illustrated by Marta Jacinto», adds the mayor.
For the future, Rosa Palma says that there are "news in the development phase, including a biography by Professor José Alberto Quaresma."
According to the Municipality, Silves is even «the first autarchy in mainland Portugal to prioritize and value a personality of Portuguese culture and letters with the creation of a day in its memory, thus contributing to the enhancement of the municipality's cultural identity and Of region".
João de Deus, born on the 8th of March to 1830, died on the 11th of January 1896. He is the only Algarvean to be buried in the National Pantheon, a place that houses some of the most important Portuguese personalities of all times.
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