|
Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira was born in 1908 in
São Paulo, Brazil, a country having the largest Catholic population in the
world. Both his parents came from traditional
aristocratic families.
He dedicated his life
to promoting the cause of the Catholic Church and Christian
civilisation. In 1928 he joined the Marian Congregations, then Brazil's largest
Catholic movement, soon
rising to national leadership, and distinguishing himself as an orator,
lecturer and man of action. At twenty-four years of age
he was elected to the Brazilian
Constitutional Assembly
of 1933 as a candidate
for the Catholic Electoral
League.
In the following
years he practiced law,
held the chair of history of civilisation at the University of São
Paulo Law School, and the
chair of modern and contemporary history at the
Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo. In 1960 he founded the Brazilian Society
for the Defence of Tradition, Family and Property, serving as its president until his death in 1995.
As a thinker and writer, Professor Corrêa de
Oliveira made a major contribution to modern Catholic
thought. While president of
the São Paulo Archdiocesan Board of Catholic
Action, he directed the weekly Legionário,
making it Latin America's front-ranking Catholic
newspaper. Later, he
was a contributor to the influential monthly magazine Catolicismo,
and a syndicated columnist with Brazil's largest daily
newspaper, the Folha de São Paulo. He also wrote 15 books.
Professor Corrêa de Oliveira's
life and work was the inspiration for other Catholics around the world to establish TFPs in their respective countries. His
legacy is seen today in the thriving school of thought
he founded and in his worldwide
following of disciples.
Aman of profound piety and
unshakable faith, he was intensely devoted to the Blessed Eucharist and the Holy Virgin Mary, to whom he consecrated himself according to the method of St. Louis de Montfort.
He loved the Papacy, having unlimited admiration for the principle of Infallibility. He never lost an opportunity to incite
others to these devotions, and so they are
hallmarks of the spiritual life
of every TFP member.
|