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Contact: Miguel Ávila, Assistant Editor, The Portuguese Tribune Website: <http://www.portuguesetribune.com/> http://www.portuguesetribune.com/ SF Bay Area Remembers “Angel of Bordeaux” Aristides de Sousa Mendes San José, California, June 6, 2010 – "I would rather stand with God against man, than with man against God." This famous quote belongs to Consul General of Portugal in Bordeaux, France, Aristides de Sousa Mendes, who in nine days in June 1940 saved 30,000 World War II refugees, among them over 10,000 Jews, who were fleeing Nazi-occupied territories. Prior to his assignment in Bordeaux, Sousa Mendes served as Consul General of Portugal in San Francisco from 1921 to 1924. The Bay Area Portuguese-American community will be honoring the “Angel of Bordeaux” with a placement of a wreath at the Portuguese Consulate, 3298 Washington Street, San Francisco, CA on Thursday, June 17, 2010 at 10 AM celebrating the 70th anniversary of Sousa Mendes’ act of defiance against his superiors, a true Act of Conscience. An art exhibit and reception will follow at the Portuguese Consulate. Artists Nathan Oliveira, John Mattos, Maxine Olson, João de Brito, Maria Pavão-Hadsell, Roberto Ávila, and Sousa Mendes’ own grandson Sebastian Mendes are confirmed. The event is hosted by the Consul General of Portugal, António Costa Moura, the Portuguese Fraternal Society of America, and The Portuguese Tribune. Confirmed guests include the Consul General of Israel, the Office of the Mayor of San Francisco, and members of the Sousa Mendes family. The event is open to the public. Special intention Masses and other events are planned throughout the world. At the Vatican, Their Eminences William Cardinal Levada, Claudio Cardinal Hummes, and Renato Raffaele Cardinal Martino will concelebrate a Thanksgiving Mass at the Church of Santa Maria di Transpontina on June 17 in Sousa Mendes’ honor. Special Masses will be said at the cathedrals of Lisbon and Braga in Portugal and other events will take place in Paris and Bordeaux in France, São Paulo, Fortaleza, and São Salvador da Bahia in Brazil, Newark, NJ, Brooklyn, NY, Montreal, Canada, and San José, CA where a special Mass will be said on Sunday, June 13, 2010 at 11 AM at Five Wounds Portuguese National Church, 1375 East Santa Clara Street, during the celebration of the Day of Portugal. Aristides de Sousa Mendes was born on July 19, 1885 in Cabanas de Viriato, district of Viseu, Portugal, to a rural aristocratic and devout Catholic family. After completing his law degree at the University of Coimbra, he pursue along with his twin brother César, a diplomatic career. Bordeaux was not the first assignment where Sousa Mendes fought for his convictions. At age 55 nearly reaching the end of his diplomatic career and the father of 14 children, Sousa Mendes put his life and those of his family at risk by disobeying dictator António de Oliveira Salazar’s strict orders not to issue any visas to Jews and foreigners of unknown origin. In the end, he lost his diplomatic career, could not exercise law, had to surrender his foreign-issued driver’s license, was stripped of his pension, suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed, lost his wife Maria Angelina in 1948, lost his children to emigration, and died in poverty on April 3, 1954. Two days after his death, his twin brother César received a handwritten note from Salazar with only two words on it: “My condolences.” In 2007, Sousa Mendes was selected in a Portuguese TV program as the third Greatest Portuguese of all time. What is less known about Aristides de Sousa Mendes is that he was Consul General of Portugal in San Francisco between October 15, 1921 and 1924 when he was assigned to Maranhão, Brazil. His ninth and tenth children, Carlos and Sebastião, were born in Berkeley on February 11, 1922 and San Francisco on October 7, 1923 respectively. Carlos died on June 4, 1999 in Los Angeles and Sebastião died on December 17, 2006 in Scottsdale, Arizona. Both brothers opted for US Citizenship and served in the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II. In 1950, Sousa Mendes’ 13th child, John Paul Abranches, who was born in Louvain, Belgium in 1932, immigrated to the United States, joined the Army, and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. He died on February 5, 2009 in Antioch, CA, at age 78. His daughter Teresinha lives in the San Joaquin Valley. -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership."
