Catarina Efigénia Sabino Eufémia (; February 13, 1928May 19, 1954) was an illiterate harvester from

Alentejo Alentejo ( , , ) is a geographical, historical, and cultural region of south–central and southern Portugal. In Portuguese, its name means "beyond the Tagus" (). Alentejo includes the regions of Alto Alentejo Province, Alto Alentejo and Bai ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, who was murdered during a worker's strike by lieutenant Carrajola of the

Guarda Nacional Republicana The National Republican Guard () or GNR is the national gendarmerie force of Portugal. Members of the GNR are military personnel, subject to military law and organisation, unlike the agents of the civilian Public Security Police (PSP). The GN ...

in Monte do Olival, Baleizão, in Beja, Alentejo. Catarina had three children, one eight months old, who was with her when she was shot. The historic tragedy of Catarina came to personify the

resistance movement A resistance movement is an organized group of people that tries to resist or try to overthrow a government or an occupying power, causing disruption and unrest in civil order and stability. Such a movement may seek to achieve its goals through ei ...

against the

regime In politics, a regime (also spelled régime) is a system of government that determines access to public office, and the extent of power held by officials. The two broad categories of regimes are democratic and autocratic. A key similarity acros ...

of Salazar. She was adopted as an

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...

by the

Portuguese Communist Party The Portuguese Communist Party (, , PCP) is a Communism, communist and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist List of political parties in Portugal, political party in Portugal. It is one of the strongest List of communist parties, communist par ...

in Alentejo. Poets

Sophia de Mello Breyner Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen (6 November 1919 – 2 July 2004) was a Portuguese poet and writer. Considered one of the most important Portuguese poets of the 20th century, she published fourteen poetry books between 1944 and 1997, covering th ...

, Carlos Aboim Inglez, Eduardo Valente da Fonseca, Francisco Miguel Duarte,

José Carlos Ary dos Santos José Carlos Pereira Ary dos Santos , better known as José Carlos Ary dos Santos, or simply Ary dos Santos (Lisbon, 7 December 1937 – Lisbon, 18 January 1984) was a Portuguese poet, lyricist, and poetry reader. He published his first book, ...

, Maria Luísa Vilão Palma and

António Vicente Campinas António Vicente Campinas (1910–1998) was a Portuguese poet from Algarve The Algarve (, , ) is the southernmost NUTS statistical regions of Portugal, NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitant ...

have all dedicated

poems Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

to her. António Vicente Campinas' "'' Cantar Alentejano''" was put to music by

Zeca Afonso Zeca may refer to: * José Afonso (1929–1987), Portuguese folk and political musician also known mononymously as Zeca * Zeca (footballer, born 1946), full name Jose Luiz Ferreira Rodrigues, Brazilian football manager known mononymously as Zeca ...

on the album "''

Cantigas de Maio A ''cantiga'' (''cantica'', ''cantar'') is a medieval monophonic song, characteristic of the Galician-Portuguese lyric. Over 400 extant ''cantigas'' come from the ''Cantigas de Santa Maria'', narrative songs about miracles or hymns in praise of t ...

''", made on

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

1971. (Hear part of the son
here
)

Context

Alentejo was a region of large estates and

seasonal jobs Temporary work or temporary employment (also called gigs) refers to an employment situation where the working arrangement is limited to a certain period of time-based on the needs of the employing organization. Temporary employees are sometimes ...

and the

living conditions Habitability is the adequacy of an environment for human living. Where housing is concerned, there are generally local ordinances which define habitability. If a residence complies with those laws, it is said to be habitable. In extreme environ ...

of the

peasants A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising f ...

and

salaried workers A salary is a form of periodic payment from an employer to an employee, which may be specified in an employment contract. It is contrasted with piece wages, where each job, hour or other unit is paid separately, rather than on a periodic basis. Sa ...

were extremely difficult. This

socio-economic Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analys ...

and labor situation agitated the peasant masses in the region starting in the mid-1940s, and this social agitation escalated over the next two decades. There were constant uproars and rural workers' strikes, which were watched by the Portuguese police, who were looking for

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

agitators and infiltrators.

Death

Murder

On May 19, 1954, during the

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

harvest, Catarina and thirteen other harvest-women complained with the

supervisor A supervisor, or lead, (also known as foreman, boss, overseer, facilitator, monitor, area coordinator, line-manager or sometimes gaffer) is the job title of a lower-level management position and role that is primarily based on authority over la ...

of the property where they were, trying to obtain a two

escudo The escudo ( Portuguese: 'shield') is a unit of currency which is used in Cape Verde, and which has been used by Portugal, Spain and their colonies. The original coin was worth 16 silver . The Cape Verdean escudo is, and the Portuguese escudo ...

increase in their daily pay. The fourteen women frightened the supervisor enough for him to go to Beja to call the owner and the police. Catarina was chosen to present the worker's grievances to the police. In response to a question of a police

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

, Catarina answered that they only wanted "work and bread". The lieutenant slapped her and she fell to the ground. When Catarina stood up, she said: "Now kill me already." The lieutenant shot her three times, shattering her vertebrae. The eight-month-old boy she had in her arms was injured, along with another peasant. Catarina died a few minutes later in the hands of her own boss (who had arrived in the meantime.) He lifted her out of the pool of

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood is com ...

she lay in.

Funeral and burial

After the

funeral A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

, fearing the reaction of the populace, the authorities resolved to carry out Catarina's funeral secretly. When the commoners found out about the funeral, they ran towards the

coffin A coffin or casket is a funerary box used for viewing or keeping a corpse, for burial, entombment or cremation. Coffins are sometimes referred to as caskets, particularly in American English. A distinction is commonly drawn between "coffins" a ...

with screams of protest. The police beat them back brutally. The coffin was hastily removed and taken not to the

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

of Baleizão, but to the land of Catarina's husband António Joaquim, Quintos, about 10 km outside of Baleizão. In 1974, her remains were transferred to Baleizão. In the sequence of disturbances during the funeral, nine peasants were accused of disrespecting authority; the majority of them were sentenced to two years in

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

. Lieutenant Carrajola was transferred to

Aljustrel Aljustrel (), officially Town of Aljustrel (), is a town and a municipality in the Portuguese district of Beja. The population in 2011 was 9,257, in an area of 458.47 km2. The present mayor is Nelson Domingos Brito, elected by the Socialis ...

but he never came to be judged in court. He died in 1964.

Legend

Communist Party affiliations

While she has been made into an

of the anti-fascist resistance, the

supposedly adulterated details of the life and death of Catarina Eufémia. Firstly, they claim that Catarina was a militant of the Communist Party in the local committee of Baleizão in 1953, which some people claim to be false. The choice of Catarina as a spokeswoman for the harvest-women may actually have been influenced by there ''not'' being any suspicion of her being a communist. In fact, Mariana Janeiro, a militant communist imprisoned several times by the Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado, always rejected the

hypothesis A hypothesis (: hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. A scientific hypothesis must be based on observations and make a testable and reproducible prediction about reality, in a process beginning with an educated guess o ...

that Catarina was a member of the party. On the other hand, António Gervásio, former leader of the PCP in

, affirms that Catarina was in fact a member of the local committee of the PCP of Baleizão in 1953.

Pregnancy

It has also been said that Catarina Eufémia was a few months

pregnant Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring gestation, gestates inside a woman's uterus. A multiple birth, multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Conception (biology), Conception usually occurs ...

when she was killed. Apparently, this information came from other harvest-women, whom Catarina had confided in a few days before her death. During the autopsy, the people of Baleizão were joined in the square of the Cathedral of Beja, a few meters from the Hospital da Misericórdia, crying out in despair: "It was not one, there were two deaths!" However, the forensic scientist who did the autopsy, Henriques Pinheiro, affirmed repeatedly, even after the revolution of 1974, that the references to a pregnancy were false.

Bibliography

*Natália Santos, "''Catarina Eufémia: (Des) Montagem de um Mito''", Coimbra, 2005. *Manuel de Melo Garrido, "''A Morte de Catarina Eufémia. A Grande Dúvida de Um Grande Drama''", Beja, ed. da Associação de Municípios do Distrito, 1974.

External links

(''In Portuguese'')
The death of CatarinaCatarina, 50 years 1954–2004

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eufemia, Catarina 1928 births 1954 deaths People from Beja, Portugal Portuguese Communist Party politicians