NOTA: Os
interessados poderão ler AQUI
uma boa biografia do Padre António Vieira; e AQUI
uma outra nota com referências ao ideal do Quinto Império
de raiz portuguesa.
Vieira deixou
incompleto um livro em vários volumes a que deu o nome fantástico
"História do Futuro" em que abordava a questão
do Quinto Império. O livro está acessível na
rede, bem como esta
Tese sobre o tema.
English
version
An introduction
to the poem: Father
Antonio Vieira's life spanned for most of the XVII century. Born
during the period when the crowns of Portugal and Spain were united
under a Spanish king, he was nevertheless an ardent nationalist.
Educated and trained by the Jesuits, he served in Brazil where his
quick mind and oratory gifts soon made him noticed. Following the
1640 Portuguese uprising against the Spanish rule, he sailed to
Lisbon on a mission and subsequently became a trusted counselor
of King John IV.
His logical
reasoning which he explained in simple words to enraptured crowds,
both in Portugal and abroad, to whom he preached an egalitarian
society under God (he himself was of mixed blood) eventually made
him known as the most gifted preacher of his time. He is still considered
as the grand master of Portuguese Prose, whence the epithet "Emperor
of the Portuguese Language" bestowed upon him by Fernando Pessoa.
Based on old
prophecies that he interpreted in his own way and noticing the peculiar
Portuguese intuition for easy dealings with people of all races,
he postulated that Portugal was the Chosen Nation that would lead
the world to an era of peace, understanding and union in the Christian
Faith. This would be the Fifth Empire and the man who would make
all this happen was "The Yearned-for", the new King Sebastian.
In this respect, Pessoa was his "apprentice" and follower
as visionary and theoreticist of the Portuguese Fifth Empire.
Father Antonio
Vieira
Heaven
spangles the blue and has splendour.
This man, who once had fame and now glory has,
Emperor of the Portuguese language,
Was to us a heaven too.
In his wide expanse of meditation,
Constellated with form and with vision,
Rises, clear harbinger of moonlight,
King Don Sebastian.
But no, 't is not moonlight: 't is light ethereal.
'T
is a day, and, in the sky ample with desire,
The
unreal dawning of the Fifth Empire
Gilds
the banks of the Tagus.
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