Patron saint and The Lusiads (The)

It is regrettable that our greatest poet, in writing the glorious pages of Os Lusíadas (The Lusiads), should have fallen into the error, through a mere slip or misunderstanding, of confusing St James the Greater, the well-known apostle of the Spains and so deeply venerated there, with Saint James the Less, who preached the Gospel in the regions of Palestine and is the principal patron (padroeiro) of the Diocese of Funchal. In stanza 9 of Canto V of Os Lusíadas we read:

‘To wreak fierce havoc on the Moors!’ (Ao fazerem nos Mouros bravo estrago!): in these words the poet refers to the island of Santiago, the principal island of the Cape Verde archipelago, discovered on the first of May in the year 1460. Camões’s mistake is evident, for that island, and likewise the island of Maio in the same archipelago, were found by the Portuguese on the feast of Saint James the Less, that is, on the first day of May, whereas the lines quoted concern St James the Greater, whose feast the Church celebrates on 25 July. The name given to that island by its discoverers was determined by the fact that it was found on the first of May, the day dedicated to the apostle Saint James the Less, as stated above.

Had it not been for the brilliant poet’s mistake, the passage of Os Lusíadas cited above might have contained a laudatory reference to the principal patron saint of our diocese, rather than to the great apostle who evangelised the ancient lands of Spain.