ALMEIDA, THEODORO de. - Oratorian, b. in Lisbon in 1722, d. there in 1804. He taught philosophy and natural sciences, and published in 10 vols. his major work, Recreacao philosophica o Dialogo sobre a philosophia natural (various editions, Lisbon 1751–99). He was a celebrated preacher and spiritual director. Exiled from the court of José I through the actions of the minister Pombal (1760), he emigrated to France (1768), where (at 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 asceticism, including Institutiones physicae ad usum scholarum, Lisbon 1785; Estimulus do amor de Virgem Maria mãe de Deus, Lisbon 1759, 1791, Lerida 1900; O Feliz independente do mundo e da fortuna, Lisbon 1779, a moral tale modelled on Fénelon’s Telemaco, which had 5 editions; Espirito consolador, tratado ascético, anonymous, Lisbon 1785; Lisboa destruída, a poem in 6 cantos, Lisbon 1803, without literary value. He also wrote an apologetic work on the harmony of reason and faith.