Background
João de Deus was born March 8, 1830, in S. Bartolomeu de Messines, in the southernmost province of Portugal. He was the son of Pedro José Ramos and wife Isabel Gertrudes Martins.
("Ramo de Flores" from João de Deus de Nogueira Ramos. Emi...)
"Ramo de Flores" from João de Deus de Nogueira Ramos. Eminente poeta lírico, considerado à época o primeiro do seu tempo (1830-1896).
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João de Deus was born March 8, 1830, in S. Bartolomeu de Messines, in the southernmost province of Portugal. He was the son of Pedro José Ramos and wife Isabel Gertrudes Martins.
Matriculating in the faculty of law at the University of Coimbra, he did not proceed to his degree but settled in the city, dedicating himself wholly to the composition of verses, which circulated among professors and undergraduates in manuscript copies.
The city of Coimbra, however, absorbed him for almost a quarter of his life. He remained in the town for three years until 1862, largely occupied with composing verses, which passed from hand to hand unpublished. He moved to Beja, where he became editor of O Bejense and later of the Folha do Sul, and served briefly as a parliamentary deputy from Silves. Journalism failed to hold his interest, which turned during the last twenty years of his life to the education of children. On this subject he wrote extensively and his primer, A cartilha maternal ("Mother's Primer"), received wide and enthusiastic recognition. In the last years of his life the school children of Portugal were organized to pay him tribute, and after his death at Lisbon, January 11, 1896, he was honored by burial in the national pantheon, the Church of the Monastery of Our Lady of Belem. Most of these writings were assembled and published in the second volume of his collected works, entitled Prosas. His poetry, on the other hand, retains its charm. Largely through the efforts of others, his poems were gathered and issued during the middle years of his life as collections entitled Flores do campo, ("Flowers of the Field"), Ramo de flores ("Bouquet of Flowers"), and Folhas soltas ("Loose Leaves"); and in 1893 the majority were assembled by T. Braga in the edition bearing the name Campo de flores ("Field of Flowers").
("Ramo de Flores" from João de Deus de Nogueira Ramos. Emi...)
He married Guilhermina das Mercês Battaglia and had two sons: José do Espírito Santo Battaglia Ramos and João de Deus Ramos.