Leal (Councillor João Baptista de Freitas)

Councillor (conselheiro, honorary title of the royal council) João Baptista Leal, who belonged to an old and distinguished Madeiran family, was born in Funchal on 24 June 1837 and died in the same city, at the age of 82, on 30 March 1920. He was the son of Commander Valentim de Freitas Leal and Dona Augusta de Freitas Abreu Leal. In 1864 he completed his law degree at the University of Coimbra (Universidade de Coimbra). He did not take up a career at the bar, but on several occasions, always with distinction and a genuine love of justice, he held the post of substitute district judge (juiz de direito) of this judicial district (comarca). He carried out various public duties, as a member of the District Council, representative (procurador) on the District General Council (Junta Geral), president of the Administrative Committee (Comissão Administrativa) of the Asylum and of the Soup Kitchen (Sopa Económica), etc. His devotion to the Catholic cause and the services he rendered to the Church led Leo XIII to honour him with the high distinction of Privy Chamberlain of the Sword and Cape to the Roman Pontiff. He was one of the principal founders of the Catholic Association of this city and of the first Conference of St Vincent de Paul to be established here in Madeira.

He promoted the publication of the former newspaper A Verdade, whose first issue appeared on 23 January 1875 and of which he was for many years the chief editor. From 1879 to 1888 he published, in seven instalments of about 1400 pages, the account of a journey he made through several European countries, under the title Recordações e Impressões de Viagem. In 1894 he published in Funchal a pamphlet of 136 pages entitled Devocionario das Almas do Purgatório, of which in 1901 he brought out a new, considerably enlarged edition of 281 pp. He also published several pamphlets containing some of the speeches he delivered at the formal sessions of the Catholic Association of this city, in his capacity as its president. Councillor Freitas Leal was a highly cultivated gentleman and a correct and elegant writer, of the most refined and noble manners and of remarkable austerity of character.