Career
He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1797 and became a teacher. In 1822 he resigned from his order to turn to politics and was sent to Lisbon as the Brazilian representative at the Cortes. Upon the proclamation of Brazilian independence in September of that year, he returned to his native land. As deputy in the first two imperial parliaments, Feijo advocated the abolition of ecclesiastical celibacy and urged municipal reforms. Following the abdication in 1831 of Dom Pedro I, Emperor of Brazil, Feijo was appointed minister of justice. During the period in which the young emperor, Dom Pedro II, was preparing to assume his imperial duties, Feijo acted as sole regent of Brazil from 1835 to 1837.