Carlos de Laet

Carlos de Laet
Born	Carlos Maximiliano Pimenta de Laet (1847-10-03)October 3, 1847 Rio de Janeiro, Empire of Brazil
Died	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Carlos Maximiliano Pimenta de Laet (3 October 1847 – 7 December 1927) was a Brazilian journalist, professor and poet.

Biography

Descended from the illustrious Belgian-Dutch de Laet family, he was born in Rio de Janeiro, the son of Joaquim Ferreira Pimenta de Laet and Emília Ferreira de Laet. At the age of fourteen, he enrolled in the first year of Pedro II College. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in literature and enrolled at the Central School, now the Polytechnic School of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

Graduated in engineering, he didn't want to pursue this career, preferring instead to become a teacher and journalist. In 1873, he applied to the Pedro II College for the chair of Portuguese, geography and arithmetic, subjects that formed the first year of the course. In 1915, with the reform of secondary education, what Ramiz Galvão had called an "anomaly" — the meeting of three such disparate subjects in the same subject — disappeared and Laet was appointed professor of Portuguese.

For a brief period, he allowed himself to be seduced by politics. In 1889, his monarchist friends urged him to accept a seat in parliament. He was elected, but the proclamation of the Republic deprived him of the seat. He remained a monarchist and faithful to Pedro II. Once the Republic was proclaimed, the Provisional Government decided to extinguish any reminiscences of the old regime, and one of the measures it took was to replace the name of the Pedro II College with that of the National Institute of Secondary Instruction.

At a school meeting on May 2, 1890, Laet requested that an appeal be made to the Republican government to keep the establishment's old name. But the vast majority of the teachers were republicans at the time. The following day, the Official Gazette published Carlos de Laet's dismissal. Shortly afterwards, Benjamin Constant, the new government's first Minister of Education, managed to turn the dismissal into retirement. It wasn't until the government of Venceslau Brás that he was reinstated as a secondary school teacher.

From then until he retired in 1925, Laet was a teacher, and for many years he was also the director of the Pedro II. He also taught at the Externato de São Bento and the Seminário de São José, among other private schools.

In journalism, he made his debut in the Diário do Rio in 1876, moving on to the Jornal do Commercio in 1878, where he wrote the column "Microcosm" for ten years. He also worked as a contributor or writer for Tribuna Liberal, Jornal do Brasil, Jornal do Commercio de São Paulo and Jornal, where he left a vast production of pages on art, history, literature, poetry criticism and criticism of customs. He also contributed to the magazine Atlântida (1915–1920).

For his monarchist convictions, he also suffered persecution in 1893, during the Naval Revolts. He prided himself on not having sheathed "the piece of the sword that was broken in '89". However, it would have been more comfortable for him to join the new regime. Especially since the Republic could only be grateful for and benefit from the support of a man like him. The journalist then took refuge in São João del-Rei, where he dedicated himself to writing the book Em Minas. A fervent Catholic, he served the Church in Brazil as president of the Catholic Youth Circle and was conferred the title of Count by the Vatican.

Carlos de Laet was invited to the last preparatory session for the installation of the Brazilian Academy of Letters on January 28, 1897. He founded Chair 32, whose patron was Manuel de Araújo Porto-Alegre.

Works

• Poesias (1873)
• Em Minas (1894)
• Antologia Nacional (1895; with Fausto Barreto)
• A Descoberta do Brasil (1900)
• Heresia Protestante (1907)
• Obras Seletas de Carlos de Laet (1984; 3 vols.)

External links

• Carlos de Laet
• Discurso sobre a Educação Religiosa
• Indiferentismo Religioso
• Works by Carlos de Laet at Open Library

Preceded by Manuel de Araújo Porto-Alegre, Baron of Santo Ângelo (patron)	20px Brazilian Academy of Letters – Occupant of the 32nd chair 1897–1927	Succeeded by Ramiz Galvão
Preceded by Domício da Gama	President of the Brazilian Academy of Letters 1919–1923	Succeeded by Afrânio Peixoto