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there. He joined the Jesuit order and gained
a reputation as an eloquent teacher and
preacher, even before his ordination to the
priesthood. He was particularly noted for
his ability to communicate effectively with
the African and Amerindian segments of
the population as well as with those of Por-
tuguese origin. He was prominent in the
movement to rally these three groups
against the Dutch dominance of northern
Brazil. The joint action of the Brazilian peo-
ples was primarily responsible for ousting
these intruders and had the further effect of
mobilizing them against Spain's overlord-
ship of the Portuguese colonies.
After the Portuguese revolt against the
dominance of Spain in 1640 Vieira played a
patriotic role and was selected as a member
of a delegation sent to L ISBON to pledge Bra-
zil's support for the newly proclaimed king,
J OHN IV. Vieira quickly won the favor of the
monarch and was entrusted by him with
diplomatic missions to various countries as
well as to the Holy See. Vieira, who had
already made himself a champion of the
nonwhite inhabitants of Brazil, now became
increasingly active as an advocate for the
persecuted Portuguese subjects of Jewish
origin, who were frequently suspected of
clinging to their original faith. His writings
and ardent sermons brought him increas-
ingly under the scrutiny of the Portuguese
Inquisition and led, during the mid-1660s,
to his imprisonment. As this was a period
when factional disputes following the death
of John IV had deprived him of his former
influence at court, he had to wait until the
renewed ascendancy of friends in high
places won him his freedom.
Vieira spent much of the 1670s in Rome,
where his eloquence once again won him a
following among the most prominent resi-
dents of the Eternal City. But ecclesiastical
and political intrigues were beginning to
weary him. The latest maneuvers at the
royal court of Lisbon, to which he returned
for a time, confirmed him in his intention
to bid farewell to Europe. Back in Brazil
after an absence of some 30 years he found
a congenial place of retirement in B AHIA ,
where he devoted himself to teaching and
writing until his death at the age of 90.
Vieira is honored both in Brazil, where
he remains a political and cultural icon, and
in Portugal. His standing in the Lusitanian
pantheon places him as the greatest prose
writer of his era, ranked alongside the poet
C AMÕES , who flourished a century earlier.
His commitment to Sebastianism (the Por-
tuguese messianic belief that King S EBAS -
TIAN did not die in battle in 1578 but waited
in a mystical trance for the summons to res-
cue his country from desperate adversity)
was reflected in his support of John IV. The
S PANISH I NQUISITION found Sebastianism
dangerously unorthodox, and modern
readers of his writings can only puzzle at its
eccentricity. Most of Vieira's writings and
the universal acclaim given to his sermons
and exhortations make it clear that he was
a man of great eloquence and profoundly
humane wisdom.
Vieira's principal prose works, some of
them published posthumously, include Ser-
mões (Sermons, 1679-1748), Historia do
Futuro (History of the future, 1718) Cartas
(Letters, 1735-46), and Arte de Furtar (The
art of stealing, 1652).
Vives, Juan Luis (1492-1540)
Spanish humanist
Vives, who has been called “the glory of
V ALENCIA ,” his native city, was born in that
 
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