Santa Rita Durão

• Name — Santa Rita Durão • Birth Name — José de Santa Rita Durão • Born — 1722 • Birthplace — Mariana, Colonial Brazil • Died — 1784 • Place of death — Lisbon, Kingdom of Portugal • Occupation — Orator, poet, priest • Education — University of Coimbra • Genre — Epic poetry • Subject — Indianism • Movement — Neoclassicism • Notable Works — Caramuru

José de Santa Rita Durão was born in Mariana, in what is now the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, in 1722. For 10 years he studied at the Jesuit College of Rio de Janeiro and, one year later, he went to Europe, where he became an Augustinian priest. He graduated in Philosophy and Theology at the University of Coimbra, where he would occupy a Theology chair. During the government of the Marquis of Pombal, he was persecuted and fled from Portugal. After being imprisoned in Spain as a spy, he went to Rome, where he worked as a librarian for 20 years, also travelling to Spain and France. After the Pombaline government fell, he returned to Portugal, and delivered the opening address at the university of Coimbra for the year 1777. Soon afterwards, he retired to the cloisters of a convent. There he wrote his masterpiece and only known work: the Camões-influenced epic poem Caramuru, published in 1781 and based on the life of the famous Portuguese sailor Diogo Álvares Correia (a.k.a. "Caramuru" – Old Tupi for "moray eel"). Legend says Durão was a very prolific writer, and wrote many poems during his lifetime. However, Caramuru received lackluster reviews by the intellectuals of the time, and Durão, heart-broken, destroyed all his poems and other literary works. He died in Lisbon in 1784.