The poet-island who combines insular childhood, insular vicissitudes, the maturity of a thought that questions human existence with this sacred place, the physical island in the middle of the Atlantic, presents himself in Os dias contados: “No princípio era a ilha/embora se diga/o Espírito de Deus/abraçava as águas” (Mendonça, 1990: 9).
Born in Machico, Madeira (December 15, 1965), with a period of childhood spent in Angola, José Tolentino Mendonça has come to stand out in literature and ecclesiastical life. Of his training, the studies in Biblical Sciences (Rome) and the doctorate in Theology at Universidade Católica Portuguesa, where he held the position of vice-rector and directed the Centro de Investigação em Teologia e Estudos de Religião, deserve to be highlighted.
His thinking has come to assert itself on the international scene, having been recognized by the Vatican as a consultant to the Pontifical Council for Culture. In the exhibition “Lo splendore della verità, la bellezza della carità” (“The Splendor of Truth, the Beauty of Love”), commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the ordination of Benedict XVI, in 2011, Tolentino Mendonça presented the Bishop of Rome with the poem “O Mistério está todo na infância”.
In 2018, Pope Francis appointed the Madeiran priest to direct the Lenten spiritual retreat, organizing the reflection “O elogio da sede”, which would give rise to the homonymous work O elogio da sede. In that year, he was appointed Archivist and Librarian of the Holy Roman Church and ordained bishop.
On October 5, 2019, Pope Francis presided over the Consistory that appointed 10 new cardinals, in line with the Church’s missionary vocation. Among them, Tolentino Mendonça. Already a cardinal, in 2021, he was appointed by the Supreme Pontiff as a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, which accompanies the life of Catholic communities in so-called mission countries.
José Tolentino Mendonça’s written production is divided into that of the essayist, linked to his vocation as a theologian and thinker on themes and texts of religious tradition – and not only – and that of the poet, in which his connection memory, childhood, the island and the interrogation of the being before the contemplated world, becomes unavoidable.
Within the profile of the essayist thinker, as a translator, proofreader and text commentator, José Tolentino Mendonça participates in the Bíblia Ilustrada project (Assírio & Alvim). The perspective of the thinker is very explicit in the introduction to the Portuguese translation of Cântico dos Cânticos, with illustrations by Ilda David’ (1997, 1st edition). In the introduction, José Tolentino Mendonça warns us about the full intellectual and ontic humility of his thought: “E, porque não se teme enunciar o sentido das palavras, é que nos podemos abrir à revelação escatológica do silêncio guardado entre elas. O silêncio de Deus” (Mendonça, 1999: 14).
As a poet, José Tolentino Mendonça is, according to critics, one of the most original voices in current Portuguese literature. Ana Margarida Falcão Seixas argues that Tolentino Mendonça gives the reader a mystical aura in which “o sujeito mantém um estatuto de elemento intermédio entre o divino e o mundo, mas quase sempre perspectivado através de uma voz que se eleva numa pergunta, numa procura” (Seixas, 2003: 418). His poetics is completed around ontic issues, the reason for which may “ter origem tanto na evocação de uma personagem ou episódio bíblico como no contar das recordações da pureza perdida da infância quase imaculada como, ainda, na interrogação acerca dos episódios da vida quotidiana” (Seixas, 2003: 418-9), to which is added the insular aspect, where his poetic feeling spreads. Provided by memory, the memory of the island’s places harbors, in the subtle memory of the island, the contemplation of a place that edifies intellectual and ontic humility: “A intertextualidade da sua poesia com os escritos sagrados não secundariza a presença da sensualidade mística e da reflexão sobre o quotidiano, muitas vezes subtilmente evocadoras da nostalgia da terra natal” (Falcão, 2011: 112).
The meeting between essayistic, poetic thought and the human pulse is materialized in the following stanza of “O mistério está todo na infância”: “O mistério está todo na infância [the physical and spiritual island, the Atlantic island, whose representation is the subject]:/é preciso que o homem siga/o que há de mais luminoso/à maneira da criança futura”[1].
From the bibliography, among essays and poetic titles, we highlight: Um Deus que dança, Rezar de olhos abertos, O que é amar um país, A construção de Jesus, A mística do instante, Histórias escolhidas da Bíblia, Os Dias Contados, Longe não sabia, Estrada branca, Estação central or A papoila e o monge.
José Tolentino Mendonça’s distinction is also evidenced by the national and international awards: Cidade de Lisboa de Poesia (1998), PEN Clube de Ensaio (2005), Res Magnae, for essay (2015), Grande Prémio de Poesia Teixeira de Pascoaes APE (2015), Grande Prémio APE de Crónica (2016) and the prestigious Capri-San Michele (2017).
[1] In “O mistério está todo na infância”: poema de José Tolentino Mendonça para Bento XVI. In Secretariado Nacional da Pastoral da Cultura. Digital access: https://www.snpcultura.org/o_misterio_esta_todo_na_infancia_poema_jose_tolentino_mendonca_bento_xvi.html.
References
Falcão, Ana Margarida (2011). O Funchal na poesia insular do séc. XV ao séc. XX. In Funchal (d)escrito: ensaios sobre representações literárias da cidade. Vila Nova de Gaia: 7 Dias 6 Noites, 77-113.
Figueira, Paulo (2020). José Agostinho Baptista, “le sentiment de soi”. In TRANSLOCAL. Culturas Contemporâneas Locais e Urbanas, nº 5. Funchal: UMa-CIERL/CMF/IA. Digital access: https://translocal.cm-funchal.pt/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/JoseAgostinhoBaptista-le-sentiment-de-soit5.pdf. Consulted on 21-12-2021.
Figueira, Paulo (2008). Percursos da subjetividade pós-modernista: um contributo para a análise das poéticas de José Agostinho Baptista e Eduardo White [Masters dissertation]. Funchal: Universidade da Madeira.
Magalhães, Joaquim Manuel (1989). Um pouco da morte. Lisboa: Presença.
Mendonça, José Tolentino (2000). Um sopro, uma leve pancada no coração. In A Phala – José Agostinho Baptista, nº 81. Digital access: https://joseagostinhobaptista.com/a-phala.html. Consulted on 21-12-2021.
Seixas, Ana Margarida Falcão (2003). Os Novos Shâmanes. Um Contributo para o Estudo da Narratividade na Poesia Portuguesa mais recente [Phd thesis]. Funchal: Universidade da Madeira.