ALMEIDA, Théodore de. – Oratorian, born in Lisbon in 1722, died there in 1804. He taught philosophy and natural sciences, and published in 10 volumes his major work *Recreação philosophica ou Diálogo sobre a philosophia natural* (various editions, Lisbon 1751–99). He was a renowned orator and spiritual director. Exiled from the court of José I by the minister Pombal (1760), he emigrated to France (1768), where (in Bayonne and Auch) he taught physics and mathematics. After Pombal’s death, he returned to his homeland (1778). He was a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Lisbon.
He also published sermons, meditations, and various pamphlets on science and ascetics, including *Institutiones physicae ad usum scholarum*, Lisbon 1785; *Estímulos do amor de Virgem Maria née de Deus*, Lisbon 1759, 1791, Lerida 1900; *O Feliz independente do mundo e da fortuna*, Lisbon 1779, a moral tale in the manner of Fénelon’s *Telemachus*, which went through 5 editions; *Espírito consolador*, an ascetical treatise, anonymous, Lisbon 1785; *Lisboa destriada*, a 6-canto poem, Lisbon 1803, of no literary merit. He also wrote an apologetic work on the harmony of reason and faith.