Father José Maria Xavier (23 August 1819 – 22 January 1887) was a Brazilian Roman Catholic priest and composer of

Sacred Music Religious music (also sacred music) is a type of music that is performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. It may overlap with ritual music, which is music, sacred or not, performed or composed for or as a ritual. Reli ...

Biography

Xavier was born in

São João del-Rei São João del-Rei is a Brazilian municipality in the state of Minas Gerais. Founded in 1713 in homage to king John V of Portugal, the city is famed for its historic Portuguese colonial architecture. The current population is estimated at 90,225 i ...

, Minas Gerais, the son of João Xavier da Silva Ferrão and Maria José Benedita de Miranda. He studied music, singing, clarinet, and violin, with his uncle, composer and teacher Francisco de Paula Miranda. He is the patron of ''Chair Number 12'' of the Brazilian Academy of Music.

Works

More than one hundred works by José Maria Xavier are known, many of large, preserved in archives of musical manuscripts from Minas Gerais,

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, Rio de Janeiro and

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian States of Brazil, state located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District (Brazil), Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Ge ...

. His Christmas

Lauds Lauds is a canonical hour of the Divine office. In the Roman Rite Liturgy of the Hours it is one of the major hours, usually held after Matins, in the early morning hours (between 3:00:00 and 5:59:59). Name The name is derived from the three la ...

were edited in Germany and are a rare example of 18th-century sacred music from Minas Gerais with printed score. He is the author of works for the Office of

Palm Sunday Palm Sunday is the Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Its name originates from the palm bran ...

, the Office of Darkness and Passion friday that are played to this day in the celebrations of

Holy Week Holy Week () commemorates the seven days leading up to Easter. It begins with the commemoration of Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, marks the betrayal of Jesus on Spy Wednesday (Holy Wednes ...

in the

Roman Catholic Diocese of São João del Rei The Diocese of São João del-Rei, São João del Rei () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church in Brazil. It is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolis (religious jurisdiction), metro ...

, and

novena A novena (from , "nine") is an ancient tradition of devotional praying in Christianity, consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine successive days or weeks. The nine days between the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost, when the ...

Recognition

In 1872, he received the Silver Medal of the V Industrial Week of Minas Gerais as an award for his works. There are many references to him in literary and historical works, as well as in travel and diaries. Emperor Pedro II refers to him in his diary and mentions admiration for the composer's work, heard on one of his travels (1881) and considered the best work he knew from Minas Gerais. There is a public music school homonymous in São João del-Rei, inaugurated in 1953. In 2019, his 200th birthday was commemorated there as a feast.

References

{{Reflist People from São João del-Rei Sacred music composers 1819 births 1887 deaths 19th-century Brazilian Roman Catholic priests