It includes Machado Santos, João Rosa Beatriz, Virgílio de Passos and other great names in the history of São Brás de Alportel. For almost 20 years, Father Afonso Cunha, who was a parish priest in the municipality, read articles, newspapers, searched archives, consulted private correspondence. And so the book “São Brás de Alportel, da Freguesia a Concelho” was born.
The work, which has 522 pages, was presented on February 2nd, at the Costume Museum.
The site chosen was symbolic: the museum, which is managed by the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de São Brás de Alportel, was created largely through the work of Father Afonso Cunha and his twin brother José da Cunha, also a former parish priest in the municipality.
The return to São Brás de Alportel was for the presentation of this book, which Father Afonso Cunha sees as «essential to know the history» of the municipality.
Until May 1914, São Brás de Alportel was the largest rural parish in the municipality of Faro. with around 12.500 inhabitants.
The idea of municipal independence had already emerged at the beginning of the 1910th century, but it was with the Implementation of the Republic, in XNUMX, that favorable political conditions emerged.
Furthermore, there is a central person: João Rosa Beatriz, a republican, finds many of his supporters in the Government.
The illustrious São Brasense's trips to Lisbon to ask for support in this claim remained in history until, in December 1912, Machado Santos – the hero of the Rotunda on October 5th – presents the bill that gives autonomy to São Brás de Alportel.
On June 1, 1914, the new municipality was born, with a lot of history – and stories – in the mix, most of them told in Father Afonso Cunha's book.
«The work focuses on the fundamental period for the creation of the municipality of São Brás de Alportel: that is, in those years between 1910 and 1914», explained the parish priest to the Sul Informação, at the end of the book launch.
This is, according to the priest, the result “of work lasting almost 20 years”.
«This didn't happen overnight: I had to consult many articles, more than 300 newspapers, I asked for private correspondence, from friends, archives... Basically, it was a symbiosis of documents», he added.
Some of the main particularities of the work are that it presents the documentary history of the organization of the municipality, its vicissitudes and the political testament of João Rosa Beatriz.
The book was presented by Renato Santos, who referred to this work as an “impressive work”.
«It was a herculean task. This is much more than just a history book: it tells us about people of flesh and blood. When reading it, we oscillate between very funny moments and others in which we travel into people's thoughts. The reader of this work will not be the same, in the end,” he said.
In this book, according to Father Afonso Cunha, the objective was also to “correct certain noises that existed” in relation to this period in the history of São Brás de Alportel.
«I never lost my connection to this land, even though I no longer live here. From today onwards, this is the book that tells the story of São Brás de Alportel », he concluded.
Comments