João Lopes Soares
Pedagogue and politician, João Lopes Soares (1878-1970) dedicated his life to the public cause, the defense of republican ideals and opposition to the dictatorship.
João Lopes Soares was born on 17 November 1878 in Cabeças, in the parish of Arrabal, in the municipality of Leiria.
He attended high school in Leiria and graduated in Theology in Coimbra in 1900. Ordained a priest, he was a military chaplain in Alcobaça, Lisbon, Vila Viçosa, Abrantes and Covilhã.
He soon became involved in republican propaganda and stood out for teaching basic literacy to soldiers in the various regiments he served, most of whom were illiterate.
A wholehearted defender of the Republic, João Lopes Soares developed an intense political activity, namely as a parliamentary and statesman.
Following the Proclamation of the Republic, he became professor at the Professional Institute of the Pupils of the Land and Sea Army, in 1911. He subsequently served several public and political offices, namely administrator and civil governor of Guarda (1912), Braga (1913) and Santarém (1915), member of the Higher Council of State Financial Administration (1914-1926), parliamentary representing Guimarães and Leiria (1916-1920), Minister of the Colonies, in the first cabinet of Domingos Pereira (1919).
In 1923, he addressed a letter to the Pope requesting his discharge as ordained priest, which was granted.
A firm defender of democratic ideals, he developed an active opposition to the Military Dictatorship, conspiring and participating is various uprisings. As a result, he was deported to Ponta Delgada, in the Azores, and the political police detained him on various occasions.
He married Elisa Nobre Baptista in 1934, ten years after the birth of their only common son, Mário Soares. Tertuliano, his first son, had been born eighteen years before, from another relationship.
João Lopes Soares was, until the end of his life, a tireless fighter for freedom and democracy.
As member of the opposition to Estado Novo, he became involved in the preparation of many coups and uprisings against the regime, playing a key role in the "Mealhada Revolta", in 1946, and the "10 April 1947" coup, headed by Mendes Cabeçadas.
For all these reasons, he was detained again, and at the Aljube Prison he found his son Mário Soares, who had also been arrested for conspiring against the government of Salazar.
When referring to this father, Mário Soares always remembered him as his "great moral reference ", the "core of the family", and "an irreplaceable driver of stabilization".
A teacher and pedagogue until the end of his life, João Lopes Soares was the founder, together with João de Deus Ramos, at the Estoril Schooling District, the Colégio Nun’Álvares. In 1936, he was the founder of Colégio Moderno (initially called Pensionato Moderno), in Lisbon, at Estrada de Malpique, today called Rua Dr. João Soares.
As headmaster of all those teaching institutions, notably Colégio Moderno, which remains a Portuguese educational reference today, João Lopes Soares influenced generations of students by developing innovative modern pedagogic methods, reflected in the school handbooks he authored. Among others, Portugal Nossa Terra - Educação Cívica (co-authored by Elísio de Campos, 1917), A Idade Moderna e Contemporânea (1922), Novo Atlas Escolar Português (1925) and Quadros da História de Portugal (co-authored by Chagas Franco, 1932).
João Lopes Soares died in Lisbon, on the 31 July 1970, with 91 years old.
