(translated and adapted from: Romana Brázio Valente, "Agostinho da Silva: Síntese Biográfica") George Agostinho Baptista da Silva was born in
Porto in 1906. Later that same year, he moved to
Barca d'Alva (
Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo), where he lived until about 6 years of age. From 1924 to 1928 he studied
Classical Philology at the
Faculdade de Letras of
University of Porto. After graduation he began contributing to the
Seara Nova magazine (a collaboration that continued until 1938). From 1931, as a scholarship student, he attended
Sorbonne and
Collège de France (Paris). In 1933 he commenced teaching at
Aveiro high school but was discharged in 1935 for refusing to sign a statement—then mandatory to all civil servants—which renounced participation in secret (thus subversive) organizations. He created the
Núcleo Pedagógico Antero de Quental in 1939, and in 1940 began publishing
Iniciação: cadernos de informação cultural. He was arrested by the secret police in 1943 and left the country the following year. He lived in
Brazil from 1947 to 1969 due to his opposition to the
authoritarian regime of the
Estado Novo (New State). He taught at
Faculdade Fluminense de Filosofia and collaborated with
Jaime Cortesão in research about
Alexandre de Gusmão (18th century diplomat). From 1952 to 1954 he taught at
Federal University of Paraíba in
João Pessoa and also in
Pernambuco. In 1954, again with Jaime Cortesão, he helped organize the 4th Centennial Exhibition of
São Paulo. He was one of the founders of
University of Santa Catarina, created the
Centro de Estudos Afro-Orientais (Afro-Oriental Studies Center), taught
Theater Philosophy at
University of Bahia, and, in 1961, became an external policy adviser to the Brazilian president
Jânio Quadros. He helped create the
Universidade de Brasília and its
Centro de Estudos Portugueses (Portuguese Studies Center), in 1962, and, two years later, created the
Casa Paulo Dias Adorno in
Cachoeira and idealizes the
Museu do Atlântico Sul in
Salvador. He returned to Portugal in 1969 after Salazar's illness and replacement by
Marcello Caetano, which created some political and cultural opening in the regime. He continued to write and teach at Portuguese universities. He directed the
Centro de Estudos Latinoamericanos (Latin-American Studies Center) at
Technical University of Lisbon, and acted as a consultant to
Instituto de Cultura e Língua Portuguesa (ICALP, Portuguese Culture and Language Institute). In 1990, the Portuguese public television channel RTP1 broadcast a series of thirteen interviews with him entitled
Conversas Vadias. He died at
São Francisco de Xavier Hospital in
Lisbon in 1994. A documentary entitled
Agostinho da Silva: Um Pensamento Vivo, directed by
João Rodrigues Mattos, was released by Alfândega Filmes, in 2004. There is an unreleased interview by
António Escudeiro entitled
Agostinho por Si Próprio, where he talks about the worship of the
Holy Spirit. He's revered as one of the leading Portuguese intellectual personalities of the 20th century. Among his works are biographies of
Michelangelo,
Pasteur and
St. Francis of Assisi; his most influential book may be
Sete Cartas a Um Jovem Filósofo (
Seven Letters to a Young Philosopher). He was a vegetarian. ==His Own Words==