Luís António Verney (23 July 1713 – 23 March 1792) was a
Portuguese philosopher, theologian, and
pedagogue
Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...
. An ''
estrangeirado
''Estrangeirados'' () were, in the history of Portugal, Portuguese intellectuals who, in the late 17th century and particularly in the 18th century, strove to introduce the ideas of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, as well as othe ...
'', Verney is sometimes called the most important figure of the
Portuguese Enlightenment.
Most notably, Verney advocated a plan to completely reform the educational system in Portugal, in radical opposition to the methods employed at the time by the
Jesuits
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
, who had long had a near-monopoly on teaching in the country; his controversial manifesto, ''Verdadeiro Método de Estudar'' (first published anonymously in 1746), would later serve as the basis for many of the educational reforms instituted under the
Marquis of Pombal.
Biography
Luís António Verney was born in
Lisbon
Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
in 1713, the son of Denys Verney (1650 – c. 1734), from
Saint-Clément-les-Places in
Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, and Maria da Conceição Arnaut, from the parish of Santa Eufémia in the town of
Penela
Penela () is a municipality located in Coimbra District, in 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 Eu ...
,
Coimbra
Coimbra (, also , , or ), officially the City of Coimbra (), is a city and a concelho, municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2021 census was 140,796, in an area of .
The fourth-largest agglomerated urban area in Po ...
. The family of wealthy merchants was established in Rua Nova do Almada, where they owned a drugstore. One of 10 siblings (4 boys and 6 girls — through one of which Verney was to be
João Frederico Ludovice's brother-in-law), Luís António was baptized on 6 August of that year, in the Church of
Saint Julian. He was first tutored by the family's
chaplain
A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...
, Fr. Manuel de Aguiar Paixão, at the age of six, in his first studies of Latin Grammar, Spanish, French, and Italian.
He studied in the Jesuit
College of Saint Antony the Abbot, probably between 1720 and 1727, and from then till 1729, Philosophy with the
Oratorians, at the Convent of the Holy Spirit of the Quarry (''Espírito Santo da Pedreira''). In April 1729, Luís António Verney interrupted his studies to enlist as a volunteer in a military expedition in
Portuguese India
The State of India, also known as the Portuguese State of India or Portuguese India, was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded seven years after the discovery of the sea route to the Indian subcontinent by Vasco da Gama, a subject of the ...
; for unknown reasons, however, he seems to have had a change of heart — by November of that year, he enrolled in the Jesuit-run
University of Évora, from which he concluded his studies in Philosophy and Theology, achieving the degree of ''
Artium Magister'' in 1736.
Afterwards, Verney travelled to Rome to earn a doctorate in Theology and Law in the
Sapienza University of Rome
The Sapienza University of Rome (), formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply as Sapienza ('Wisdom'), is a Public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1303 and is ...
. There, he became a member of the
Academy of the Arcadians,
and corresponded with important figures of the Italian Enlightenment, such as leading encyclopedist
Ludovico Antonio Muratori
Lodovico Antonio Muratori (21 October 1672 – 23 January 1750), commonly referred to in Latin as Muratorius, was an Italian Catholic priest, notable as historian and a leading scholar of his age, and for his discovery of the Muratorian fragmen ...
, and
Antonio Genovesi
Antonio Genovesi (1 November 171322 September 1769) was an Italian writer, philosopher and political economist.
Biography
Son of Salvatore Genovese, a shoemaker, and Adriana Alfinito of San Mango, Antonio Genovesi was born in Castiglione, near ...
. In 1741, he was appointed
Archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denomina ...
of the
Metropolitan Archdiocese of Évora.
It was around this time that Verney conceived his plan to reform the educational system in Portugal, to bring it closer to the winds of cultural progress that permeated the spirits of progressive Europe. His ''Verdadeiro Método de Estudar'', setting out in summary form his harsh criticism of the existing system and his proposals for changing it, was initially published anonymously in 1746: it soon became the focus of much controversy, which made Verney lose much needed influence at the court of
King John V.
In ''Verdadeiro Método de Estudar'', Verney argued that
grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...
should be taught in Portuguese, not Latin, and staunchly defended experimental methods, as opposed to a system of argumentation based on authority, calling into question the influence of the
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...
, who held a near-monopoly of higher education in the country; Verney also approached (without necessarily adopting) some of the principles of the
Jansenists and
Gallicans in relation to the methods used in theological studies. The book prompted a furious polemic: between its first publication and 1757, over forty books were written in response to Verney's manifesto.
Verney's standing with the political elites grew stronger with the rise of the chief minister of
King Joseph I, the
Marquis of Pombal, he himself an ''
estrangeirado
''Estrangeirados'' () were, in the history of Portugal, Portuguese intellectuals who, in the late 17th century and particularly in the 18th century, strove to introduce the ideas of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, as well as othe ...
''. Following the
national suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1759, Pombal's subsequent reforms saw many of Verney's ideas implemented into the Portuguese educational system. Verney himself was appointed, in April 1768, secretary of the Portuguese Legation in Rome; however, Verney's involvement in political issues resulted in his fall from grace and dismissal in 1771. He lived in exhile in
San Miniato
San Miniato is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Pisa, in the region of Tuscany, Italy.
San Miniato sits at a historically strategic location atop three small hills where it dominates the lower Arno valley, between the valleys of the E ...
until his rehabilitation following the death of King Joseph I and the accession of
Queen Maria I in 1777. In 1780, he became a correspondent of the
Lisbon Academy of Sciences
The Academy of Sciences of Lisbon () is Portugal's national academy dedicated to the advancement of sciences and learning, with the goal of promoting academic progress and prosperity in Portugal. It is one of Portugal's most prestigious scientif ...
in Rome and, in 1790, was named an honorary member of the Board of Conscience and Orders (''Mesa de Consciência e Ordens'').
Old and sick, Luís António Verney died in Rome in March 1792, after spending eight days in a
coma
A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...
. He was already blind and ailing on 18 August 1791, when he dictated his will.
Works
*''De recuperata sanitate Joannes Regis, etc. Oratio.'' (Rome, 1745)
*''Verdadeiro Método de Estudar, Para Ser Útil à República, e à Igreja'' (Naples, 1746
)
*''De conjungenda Philosophia cum Theologia. Oratio.'' (Rome, 1747)
*''De Ortographia Latina liber singularis'' (Rome, 1747; Coimbra, 1818)
*''Apparatus ad Philosophiam et Theologiam ad usum lusitanorum adolescentium, liber sex'' (Rome, 1751)
*''De Re Logica ad usum lusitanorum adolescentium, libri quinque'' (Rome, 1751)
*''Serenissimo Principi Ludovico Burgundia Duci, Gallorum Delphini filio, Carmen genethliacum'' (Rome, 1752)
*''De Re Metaphysica ad usum lusitanorum adolescentium, libri quatuor'' (Rome, 1753)
*''Grammatica Latina, tractada por um methodo novo, claro e facil'' (Barcelona, 1758)
*''Cartas de Luis Antonio Verney e Antonio Pereira de Figueiredo aos padres da Congregação do Oratorio de Goa'' (
New Goa, 1858)
*''Synopsis primi tentaminis pro litteratura scientiisque instaurandis apud Lusitanos, etc.'' (Lisbon and Paris, 1762)
*''De Re Physica'' (Rome, 1769)
References
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verney, Luis Antonio
1713 births
1792 deaths
18th-century Portuguese Roman Catholic priests
Archdeacons
People from Lisbon
Portuguese educational theorists