Ornelas (João Augusto de)

His is today an unjustly forgotten name, yet it once enjoyed well-deserved renown, not only in Madeira but also in mainland Portugal, the Kingdom (reino, i.e. mainland Portugal). His literary output is vast, less because of the dozen volumes he published than because of the contributions he left scattered across various newspapers, notably the old and well-known periodical O Direito, of which he was for several decades the principal and most assiduous editor.

In his youth João Augusto de Ornelas contracted a terrible illness that took all movement from his legs, and he spent most of his life confined to his work desk, which he left only shortly before death overtook him. As he found it very difficult to move his pen across the paper, he took advantage of the visits of the many people who called on him to dictate his novels, his short stories, his serials, the correspondence he sent to several newspapers on the mainland and, above all, the countless articles intended for his own newspaper.

He was a tireless worker. Neither the paralysis that crippled his movements, nor the distressing privations he so often endured, nor the torments he suffered within his own home, nor the harsh battles he fought in the press, nor even the smear campaigns raised against him, dampened his spirit or weakened his will. He worked actively and courageously in a combat without truce, a fierce war against adversity, until death laid him low in the arena at the still vigorous age of 53.

His enemies and opponents not infrequently levelled a serious accusation against him – the changeability of his character. The accusation was not entirely unfounded, but it is easily explained, and even largely justified, by the circumstances that surrounded his troubled life and placed him in a tight situation from which few would have been able to emerge victorious.

He published other novels as serials in the Direito, some of which he was preparing for publication in separate volumes. He also published the pamphlets A coroa de oiro ou a honra e a justiça; o que foi e o que é José Cardoso Vieira de Castro, Funchal 1871, XXXVIII-23 pp., and A Madeira e as Canárias, Funchal 1884, 28 pp.

João Augusto de Ornelas was a knight of the Order of Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Vila Viçosa (Our Lady of the Conception of Vila Viçosa). He served as representative (procurador) to the District General Council (Junta Geral do Distrito) and as a member of the Administrative Committee (Comissão Administrativa) of the Poorhouse (Asilo de Mendicidade). He died in Funchal on 11 July 1886.