About the Patron

Professor Doctor Álvaro da Costa Machado Vilela was born on August 20, 1871, in the parish of Barbudo. He was the son of a farming couple who, like the leading regional families, lived from cultivating and managing the land. His parents, Custódia Maria da Silva Costa and Manuel José Machado Vilela, had eleven children, with Álvaro being the youngest. Among his siblings, notable figures include the canon of the Braga Cathedral, José António da Costa Machado Vilela; Father António Luís Costa Machado Vilela; and the merchant and pharmacist Alberto da Costa Machado Vilela. Dr. Álvaro attended the Colégio de S. Luís in the city of Braga from 1885 to 1889.

In 1890, he enrolled in the Faculty of Law at the University of Coimbra, where he was always an outstanding student. He earned his degree on May 2, 1895, defended his theses on November 24 and 25, 1897, and received his Doctorate on December 5, 1898.

He was the first professor of the International Law chair, created by the 1901 reform at the University of Coimbra. Alongside the Public International Law courses, he established the Private International Law chair. Among his published works, we highlight “A revisão no processo criminal” (1897); “Seguros de vida” (1898); “Lições de Direito Internacional” (1902–1908); “Estudos sobre a convenção de Haia de Direito Internacional”; and “Tratados coletivos sobre Direito Internacional Privado,” among others.

In 1922, at the recommendation of the Portuguese Government, he was appointed by the Egyptian Government to the high position of Judge of the Mixed Courts of Egypt, where he carried out remarkable and prestigious work for Portugal until 1938, the year he retired. He was also highly active in the national sphere, particularly through his legal expertise.

He served as a deputy in 1901 for the Regenerator Party, elected in the Alenquer district; he was appointed to the corporate chamber but declined the position. He received multiple invitations to serve as Minister of the Presidency of the Republic and President of the Supreme Court, but he rejected them all, preferring to dedicate himself to study during his later years in the peaceful solitude of his home in Barbudo, where he died in 1958 and where he wished to be buried.

From his teaching chair emerged generations of distinguished individuals who would have significant impact on national life, including Oliveira Salazar. He assumed the principal responsibility, as the first Provider, for founding a misericórdia with its hospital in a major municipality where hospital care was extremely valuable. He was a deeply devout Catholic with great respect for the Church. He managed to completely restore the Parish Church. A man of character, hardworking, tireless, always “attached” to his books. He was of irreproachable morals, unmarried so he could devote himself fully to study, work, and later to charity toward his fellow townspeople.

Despite his traditionally conservative principles, he understood those who did not share his ideology and never denied them his friendship.