Unveiling the Soul of the Azores – One Voice, One Creation at a Time

Medeiros, Duarte Borges da Câmara (1st Viscount of Praia)

[Born in Fajã de Baixo, on the island of São Miguel, on September 7, 1799? Died in Ponta Delgada on March 19, 1872. He was the son of Antonio Pedro Borges da Câmara e Medeiros and Maria Francisca do Livramento d’Andrade Albuquerque Bettencourt. At the age of 12, he went to study in Lisbon, returning to São Miguel in 1823. On June 2 of that same year, he married Ana Teodora Borges do Canto e Medeiros, daughter of António de Medeiros Dias de Sousa e Câmara, nobleman of the Royal House, and Clara Joaquina Isabel do Canto Medeiros da Costa e Albuquerque. Seven children were born from this union. Among them, António Borges de Medeiros Dias da Câmara e Sousa, 1st Marquis of Praia and Monforte, stands out.

Even before the establishment of the liberal regime in Portugal, he held various municipal positions and served in the second line, with the rank of lieutenant, under the previous regime.

When power alternated between liberals and absolutists, he resigned from his positions and joined the liberal cause. For this reason, he was persecuted and imprisoned, first in the Castle of S. Brás and then deported to the island of Santa Maria. He would only return to S. Miguel after the liberal government was proclaimed on the island in 1831.

During the stay of D. Pedro IV in the archipelago, Duarte Borges da Câmara e Medeiros opened his home to liberal officers and sponsored D. Pedro’s campaigns on the mainland, namely the Mindelo expedition, chartering a ship to aid the military besieging Porto and paying the passage for anyone who wanted to join the Civic Battalion. He also contributed to the defense of the new institutions, which were attacked by absolutist guerrillas and other counterrevolutionary activities. In 1833, he was part of the commission appointed to be close to enforcing the decree of December 5, 1833, which decreed the seizure, in the Azores, of all the assets of individuals involved in the crime of high treason (supporters of D. Miguel).

In August 1834, shortly after the Convention of Évora Monte, he was elected to join the first liberal parliamentary group, together with Bernardo Machado de Faria e Maia and Francisco Afonso de Chaves e Melo, for the Eastern Province of the Azores, whose activity resulted in the publication of the pamphlet Memória Apologética dos Deputados pela Província Oriental dos Açores, oferecida aos seus constituintes (Apologetic Memoir of the Deputies for the Eastern Province of the Azores, offered to their constituents) (1835), which, as the title indicates, was intended to extol their parliamentary work.

As a deputy, he was involved in the construction of the Alameda do Duque de Bragança (“Relvão”), in accordance with the wishes of D. Pedro IV himself, expressed in the decree of January 2, 1833. He ceased to be a deputy when he was elevated to Peer of the Realm in 1835.

He was head of the Cartista Party in S. Miguel and, in that role, supported newspapers such as O Monitor (December 1839 to February 1841) and Cartista dos Açores (1846-1850).

A liberal of the conservative faction, or Chartist, he made public his connection to Freemasonry, together with his two fellow deputies, in the so-called Memória Apologética… (Apologetic Memoir…), and was therefore highly criticized by the more extreme liberal press. His name is hence associated with the Loja União Açoriana, a Cartist lodge (from 1845 onwards it would be called the “Club de Ponta Delgada”), commonly known as “Os Porcos” (The Pigs), which, in the 1830s, coexisted with another lodge called “Os Gatos” (The Cats), of a Septembrist nature (from 1842 onwards, it would be renamed “Assembleia Recreativa”) in the city of Ponta Delgada, fueling heated debates in the respective press.

He was awarded the title of Viscount of Praia by Queen Maria II by decree on May 7, 1845.

In April 1840, he was elected senator for the Eastern Province of the Azores. On February 6, 1848, he was appointed attorney for the District General Board for the municipality of Ponta Delgada.

He was also a patron of the arts and sciences, enabling many to acquire an education and social status and sponsoring the printing of various works (for example, the Álbum Michaelense, by Joaquim Cândido Abranches) and newspapers.

He was a patron member of the Society for the Promotion of Vocal Music Instruction (1858).

He ceded his garden for the installation of the Circo Teatro Equestre (1859). He was a benefactor of the construction of the old Teatro Michaelense. In addition to being a contributing member of the Sociedade Promotora da Agricultura Micaelense (Society for the Promotion of Agriculture in São Miguel), he provided the Society with some animals, such as camels, which he had brought to São Miguel.

He contributed to the urban improvement of the city of Ponta Delgada by donating numerous plots of his land, namely for the opening of Rua Formosa (now Rua de Lisboa) in 1838, and the widening of the access road connecting Santa Clara to the then Foral do Ramalho (1849). In 1860, he was part of a commission elected to speed up the construction of the artificial port of Ponta Delgada, a project to which he had been contributing in various ways for many years.

At the time of his death, the local newspapers mostly remembered him as the great benefactor he had proven to be. Here are a few examples. While serving as a deputy, he offered his subsidy in favor of the amortization of the copper coin minted in the Azores during the organization of the “liberation army.” When the Bank of Lisbon collapsed, he used his own money to mitigate the effects of the crisis that had taken hold among many wealthy families, military personnel, and civil servants. When an earthquake destroyed the town of Praia on Terceira Island in 1840, he was one of the biggest contributors to its reconstruction. When yellow fever ravaged Lisbon in 1857, he was also one of the most generous contributors to the fight against it. In 1869, during a food crisis on the island of São Miguel, he employed several people on his land in Rabo de Peixe and bought corn to sell at low prices. Ana C. Moscatel Pereira

Main works. (1835), Memória Apologética dos Deputados pela Província Oriental dos Açores, oferecida aos seus constituintes. Lisbon, Typ. de Eugénio Augusto.

Bibl. Diário dos Açores (1872), Ponta Delgada, no. 621, March 2. Id. (1872), Ponta Delgada, no. 623, March 5. Id. (1872), Ponta Delgada, no. 626, March 8. Id. (1872), Ponta Delgada, no. 627, March 9. Id. (1872), Ponta Delgada, no. 629, March 12. Ecco Michaelense (1872), Ponta Delgada, no. 83, March 23. Ferreira, M. (1994), Manuel António de Vasconcelos. The first journalist from São Miguel and the Açoriano Oriental. Ponta Delgada, Impraçor, Ldª: 60. Maia, F. A. M. F. (1994), Novas Páginas da História Micaelense (Subsídios para a História de S. Miguel) 1832-1895. Ponta Delgada, Jornal de Cultura. Persuasão (1872), Ponta Delgada, no. 529, March 6. Id. (1872), no. 532, March 27. Supico, F. M. (1995), Escavações. Ponta Delgada, Instituto Cultural de Ponta Delgada, I, II, III

In Enciclopédia Açoriana

https://www.culturacores.azores.gov.pt/ea/pesquisa/Default.aspx?id=8149

Mission Statement:

“In the Silence of Hydrangeas: Azorean Arts and Letters” is a weekly digital rubric under the Filamentos platform that seeks to illuminate the cultural, artistic, and literary richness of the Azores and its dynamic connection to the Azorean Diaspora. Each week, we highlight writers, poets, musicians, painters, sculptors, theater groups, and cultural movements that have emerged from or been inspired by this Atlantic archipelago. Our mission is to move beyond folkloric clichés and festive portrayals to reveal the profound creative spirit, complexity, and heritage that shape Azorean identity across generations and oceans.

Vision Statement:

We envision a living archive and vibrant stage where the voices, visions, and legacies of Azorean creators—on the islands and throughout the diaspora—are celebrated, preserved, and made accessible to global audiences. This rubric aims to educate, connect, and inspire by showcasing the Azores not as a distant, nostalgic memory, but as a creative force in continuous dialogue with the world. To know the Azores is not merely to attend a festa, but to listen to the poems etched in basalt, the canvases dyed in sea-light, and the stories whispered in the silence of hydrangeas.

We thank the Luso-American Education Foundation for its support of this project.