People's memory

In memoriam of Father Registo

It was the summer of 1968 when I took a “long” train journey for the first time: leaving from Barracão train station and heading to Fundão. It was a new experience and a discovery for someone who had never travelled beyond the city two or three times. The times of hardship and poverty did not allow for any ambitions beyond that. Even though I lived 10 kilometres from Guarda , the first time I went up to the city was to take my fourth-grade exam. Returning to the inaugural journey, I would later make the journey five or six times a year, during the five years I attended the Fundão Minor Seminary.

These memories come to mind in connection with the recent death of Father José Registo, the last of the priests who formed part of the team of trainers and teachers at the aforementioned Seminary in my time. A comprehensive school of cultural education, as befitted future priests, it was the basis of my academic learning that would lead me to teaching in future years. As in all teams, there were better and worse human beings, but, for the most part, I fondly remember those who were my teachers. In the early years, there was the mathematical rigor of Father Nobre, from Soito, and the gentler learning of the basic principles of Latin, with Father Virgílio. Later, at the current 3rd cycle level, the ill-fated foreign languages ​​were difficult to include in my childish categories, accustomed only to rural jargon. Both Father Carlos' French and Father Messias' English were quite difficult to digest. French went better because mass emigration to the French lands was beginning and living with fellow countrymen, who were spending their holidays in the village, encouraged their learning. The Latin of this cycle was already more refined, because the demands of the Vice-Rector, Lourenço Pires, were destroying our mental categories. The weekly quizzes didn't help much either. Memorizing without internalizing, as was the prerogative of the time, made acquiring knowledge more difficult.

Now, during these years of the Cycle, a new prefect, a History Professor, arrived and brought a breath of fresh air to the Seminary environment: Father Registo. Born in Manteigas and a parish priest who had already been to various places in the diocese, he brought with him a slightly different and less hieratic attitude than the other members of the team. His parish experience and, above all, his History degree in Lisbon opened up horizons for him beyond the learning of the Diocesan Seminaries he attended. He was a humanist to the core and, when a personal problem arose that was “difficult” to confide in the Spiritual Director, he was the one we turned to. With his good nature and patience, he listened to us and tried, in his own way, to overcome these difficulties. As prefect, he was very close to the seminarians and he generated confidence in explaining our problems. Even as a History teacher, his teaching was different from the usual rambling that was required of other teachers: it was based more on the interpretation of documents and the discovery of new meanings for history itself. Perhaps that is why his time at the Seminary was brief, restricted to the years of 1970 and 1971.

The testimony of his parishioners, published in the Jornal de Belmonte , is enlightening regarding his pastoral work: “A man of easy manners, affable, who earned the respect of all the people of Belmonte, regardless of their creed or religion. José Martins Registo can be considered the parish priest of the municipality of Belmonte because he carried out his pastoral work in all the localities of the municipality with the exception of Inguias.” In fact, the Belmonte local authority highlighted his commitment and work dedicated to the municipality for so many years, and its president highlighted his role as an educator and priest, saying that he leaves behind a “ legacy of faith, service and humanity that will live on in everyone’s memory.” (A Guarda, no. 5988). Two days of municipal mourning were declared due to his death.

A big thank you to Father Registo for his teachings and especially for his work as a cultivator of an attitude of proximity in the parishes and seminary where he passed. It is thanks to the examples of men like him that we continue to believe.

Jose Manuel Monteiro