Caetano Beirão

This article is about the writer and historian. For the physician, see Caetano Maria Ferreira da Silva Beirão.

Caetano Maria de Abreu Beirão (5 November 1892 – 21 January 1968) was a writer, journalist and historian who became notable as one of the founders and main leaders of Realist Action and as an ideologue and promoter of values traditional monarchists during the First Portuguese Republic. Coming from Lusitanian Integralism, he was a supporter of Salazarism, and deputy in the V (1949–1953) and VI (1953–1957) legislatures of the National Assembly of the Estado Novo.

Biography

Caetano Beirão was born in Lisbon, the son of Caetano Maria Ferreira da Silva Beirão and Rosa Isabel Burke de Abreu Beirão. He completed his law course at the University of Coimbra in 1915, shortly afterwards entering the judiciary, finishing his career as a deputy of the Public Prosecutor's Office in the 1st court of Lisbon.

Since his student days in Coimbra, Beirão dedicated himself to writing, contributing to several periodicals. As a writer, he made his debut in 1915, publishing the work Ausente, followed by the book of poetry Sonetos (1918). He embarked on historical research, having published numerous works dealing with themes of Portuguese history and the biography of notable figures. Another field in which he maintained intense activity was journalism, collaborating in several periodicals with a conservative tendency, mostly monarchical.

He entered political activity during the First Portuguese Republic, active in the monarchical opposition to the regime, which earned him imprisonment for political reasons. Conservative, he assumed himself as an integral monarchist, being one of the leaders of the initial phase of the Lusitanian Integralism movement. He was a leader of the Monarchical Youth of Lisbon.

He was deeply involved in defending the monarchical cause, having held multiple positions in political organizations and monarchical circles. Together with Alfredo Pimenta, he was one of the founders of Realist Action, a group that became autonomous from the integralist movement, of whose board of directors he was a member.

After the coup of May 28, 1926, he supported the National Dictatorship and the Estado Novo regime, being a deputy in the V Legislature (1949–1953) representing the Lisbon constituency. He was a member of the Parliamentary Committee on National Education, Popular Culture and Spiritual Interests, having concentrated his action on cultural matters. He returned to the National Assembly in the VI Legislature (1953–1957), remaining on the same committee.

His collaboration with the periodical press focused on defending monarchical traditionalism, having been one of the main editors and commentators of periodicals such as A Nação, A Monarquia and A Ação Realista and of the magazines Integralismo Lusitano and Nação Portuguesa. He also collaborated in periodicals in Lisbon and other cities, including Diário de Notícias, A Voz, A Época and Lourenço Marques Guardian and in the Revista de Arqueologia (1932–1938).

Historical research and his activity as a historian earned him great prestige, and in 1934 he received the Alexandre Herculano Prize from the National Secretariat of Propaganda (SNP), recognizing the quality of his work D. Maria I, Subsidies for the Review of the History of His Reign.

He also held numerous conferences and lectures, some of them broadcast by Emissora Nacional. He was one of the promoters of the action of the Order of Attorneys of Portugal and the Lisbon Monarchical Student Center, organizations where he held conferences.

Works

In addition to a vast body of work spread across periodicals, he is the author of the following writings:

• Ausente (1915)
• Sonetos (1918)
• Uma Campanha Tradicionalista (1919)
• A Lição da Democracia. Oitenta e Oito Anos da República em Portugal (1922)
• D. Maria I: 1777-1792: subsídios para a revisão da história do seu reinado (1934)
• Elogio Histórico do Dr. Adriano Xavier Cordeiro (1920)
• Quem São os Responsáveis Pela Desorganização da Causa Monárquica (1931)
• O problema da sucessão do rei D. João VI na "História de Portugal" do Sr. Fortunato de Almeida (1932)
• Cartas da rainha D. Mariana Vitoria para a sua família de Espanha que se encontram nos arquivos Histórico de Madrid e Geral de Simancas (1936)
• Grandes Reportagens de Outros Tempos (1938; under the pen name Amador Patrício)
• História Breve de Portugal (1941)

References

• Magalhães, Luís de (1927). Tradicionalismo e Constitucionalismo. Estudos de História e Política Nacional. Porto: Livraria Chardron.

External links

• Caetano Beirão