Bernardo António de Sousa

Priest and poet, best known by the pseudonym Belmiro, pastor do Douro, with which he signed his secular verses. Appointed abbot of the parish of Sé do Porto, he began by publishing an Écloga in single leaflets and a pastoral poem in 3 cantos, titled Elizaida ou amor vencido. These and other compositions, which would later be collected in a volume, were always published under the pseudonym Belmiro to conceal the author's true identity, for, as Inocêncio F. da Silva notes in the Dicionário Bibliográfico Português, «the ecclesiastical state he professed with great solemnity obliged him not to present himself in public as a poet» (D.B.P. , vol. VIII, p. 390). Judging by the number of poems he published, he seems to have been a highly appreciated poet. The body of his work was published in 2 volumes, in 1787 and 1792, respectively. Later (1825), the author's nephew, António Vicente de Carvalho e Sousa, reprinted the two previously published volumes, adding a 3rd volume of Obras póstumas.