About the Souvenir Sheet
The art portrays four heroic personalities of the independence battles. In the sky, Cipriano Barata and Frei Caneca— great journalists and opinion makers—shout their ideas and spread their pamphlets like clouds, amidst a flock of birds. Below, on the ground, the black commander Pedro Pedroso and the woman who disguised herself as a soldier, Maria Quitéria, clench their fists and lead troops in a scenario that mixes country and city. The Northeast is represented by the terracotta color and the digital emulation of Xylography, while the diversity of the prominence of men and women, white, black, and indigenous people, from various social classes and different cultures, is reinforced by the colorful, national palette and the symbolic decorative elements.
Bicentenary of Independence – Personalities
Continuing the celebrations of the Bicentenary of Independence, Correios highlights, in this issue, historical personalities who had moments of protagonism in movements that preceded Brazil’s Independence. Philately, in one of its roles of disseminating knowledge, portrays and honors these underexplored characters, who helped write the history of independence shortly before it occurred.
The Bahian physician Cipriano Barata, enthusiastic nationalist, was present at the Lisbon Courts. The Revolutionary Frei Caneca was a leader of the Pernambuco Revolution of 1817 and other movements. The Afro-descendant military Pedro Pedroso had his loyal army on his side against the Royalists. The heroine of the country, Maria Quitéria, was a female figure of enormous importance in the War of Independence. The next paragraphs summarize the biography of each of them.
FREI CANECA (Friar “Mug”)
Born in Recife on August 20, 1779 and son of Francisca Alexandrina de Siqueira from Pernambuco, Joaquim da Silva Rabelo took the Carmelite habit in 1796, becoming, from then on, Joaquim do Amor Divino. After he adds “Caneca” to his name in reference to the craft of his father, the Portuguese cooper Domingos da Silva Rabelo. He was ordained a friar in 1801 and in 1803 became professor of rhetoric, geometry and philosophy. His political militancy began in the Revolution of 1817: on that occasion he exercised the role of adviser to the Republican Army. With the fall of the Provisional Government, he was arrested and sent to Bahia, where he remained detained until 1821. Back in Recife, he helped to elect the first board of constitutional government, and at the end of 1822 he was enthusiastic about the acclamation of D. Pedro as Emperor of Brazil. However, throughout 1823, he showed disillusionment with the emperor due to the appointment of Manoel Paes Barreto as president of the province of Pernambuco and, above all, due to the closure of the Constituent Assembly. Caneca believes, therefore, that without a pact guaranteed by a free and sovereign assembly, the new nation could never be founded in Brazil. That’s why he started writing the newspaper Typhis Pernambucano, becoming, at the same time, ideologist of the Confederation of Ecuador, a resistance movement to the Imperial Government that broke out in Recife in July 1824. Also acting as a member of troops during this political movement, Frei Caneca participates in combats in Recife and in the interior of the province. However, he is arrested and sentenced to capital punishment, being executed on January 13, 1825.
PEDRO DA SILVA PEDROSO
Born in 1770 in Recife, Pedro da Silva Pedroso was a “pardo” Afro-descendant who served in the first-line troops. He became a soldier in the late 18th century and in 1816 became a captain in the Artillery Regiment. During the revolution of 1817, Pedroso had a prominent role in the military and political plan, especially in the victory of the Republicans over constitutional monarchists. At the end of the Republic, he was imprisoned and sent to Bahia and then to Lisbon. In April 1822, he obtained a pardon from the Constituent Courts and returned to Pernambuco. Days later, he participates directly in the deposition of the first board of the government and is made Governor of the province by the next board, that of the Matutos. His reckless attitudes, however, led to his resignation in January 1823, which gave rise to Pedrosada: the insurrection of militias and troops loyal to Pedroso who, in February 1823, ruled the province for a week. At the end of the event, Pedroso is sent arrested to Rio de Janeiro and in July 1823 asks for clemency to D. Pedro I, who grants him freedom, but, in return, requires his concurrence to shake the Confederation of Ecuador. With this movement defeated, Pedroso definitively retired to Rio de Janeiro. There, later, between 6 and 7 April 1831, he was one of the soldiers who stayed overnight in the Camp Of Honor to receive the letter of abdication from Pedro I. Pedro da Silva Pedroso died in Rio de Janeiro in 1849, at the age of 79.
CIPRIANO BARATA
Born in Salvador on September 26, 1762, Cipriano José Barata de Almeida was a publicist and politician of the independence era. Son of the Portuguese military Raimundo Nunes Barata and his wife, Luiza Josefa Xavier, from Bahia, he enrolled as a student at the University of Coimbra in 1786. In 1790 he received qualification degrees in Medicine, Mathematics and Philosophy. In 1788 he was accused of heresy and for the same reason he was denounced for delivering “incendiary sermons”. In 1798 he was arrested for his involvement in the Conspiracy of the Tailors. Although he resided in Bahia, Barata was implicated in the Pernambuco revolution of 1817. In 1820, he was elected deputy for his province to the Lisbon Courts and, from then on, he became an ardent defender of constitutionalism. In 1823, he begins the publication of the newspaper Sentinela da Liberdade (Sentinel of Freedom) and is arrested for no convincing reason by D. Pedro I. Released only in 1830, he restarted the publication of his newspaper, but in 1831 he was arrested again in different provinces of the Empire on charges of “haitianism”. Finally free in 1834, Barata began to migrate constantly, while his health deteriorated. He lived in Recife (1834), then in Paraíba (1836) and finally in Rio Grande do Norte (1837). Withdrawn from politics and publicism, and dedicated to teaching French and practicing Medicine, Cipriano Barata died in Natal on June 1, 1838.
MARIA QUITÉRIA
Born in 1792 and daughter of the besiegers Gonçalo Alves de Almeida and Quitéria Maria de Jesus, Maria Quitéria de Jesus was a Bahian soldier who served in the war that took place in that province in the context of independence. Little is known about her early life. In 1821, she evaded military opposition to her gender and enlisted in the mercenary armies hired by D. Pedro I to impose the independence project in the Bahian province. Maria Quitéria distinguished herself in combat, receiving appointments and recognition from the French mercenary Pierre Labatut (1776-1849), his assistant, José Joaquim de Lima e Silva (1787-1855) and Emperor D. Pedro I, who grants her lifetime ensign pay and a habit of the Imperial Order of the Cruzeiro. Maria Quitéria died in Salvador on August 1, 1853.
Luiz Geraldo Silva
Professor at the Department of History at UFPR
Technical Details
Stamp issue N. 12
Art: Cordeiro de Sá
Print system: offset and silk printing varnish
Paper: gummed chalky paper
Souvenir Sheet with 4 stamps
Facial value: 1st class rate for domestic mail (each stamp)
Issue: 12,000 souvenir sheets
Design area: 44 x 26mm
Stamp dimensions: 44 x 26mm
Souvenir sheet dimensions: 110 x 70mm
Perforation: 11 x 11,5
Date of issue: August 20th , 2022
Places of issue: Recife/PE and Salvador/BA
Printing: Brazilian Mint
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