DURAO, JOSE DE SANTA RITA (c. 1737-1784), Bra zilian poet, was born in the parish of Cata Preta, near the boun dary of Minas Geraes, Brazil, probably in 1737, though some authorities place his birth within the years 1718-2 2. He received his early education at the Jesuit college in Rio de Janeiro, and in 1756 obtained the degree of Doctor of theology from the historic University of Coimbra, Portugal. Two years later he entered the Gratian convent of the order of St. Augustine. Famous already as a preacher, he offended his superiors by his liberality of thought, and particularly by his openly expressed regard for the proscribed Jesuits. In consequence he was forced to leave the country. He was detained in Spain as a spy in 1762, but was released in the following year, and then went to Rome, where he became acquainted with Alfieri, Pindemonte, Casti and other literary men of the time. In 1778 he returned to Portugal to accept the chair of theology at the University of Coimbra, and at the opening of the university for the year delivered an address in Latin, De sapientia, which marked him as one of the foremost intellectuals of his day. He soon retired, however, to the Gratian convent, and became its prior. In 1781 he published in Lisbon his great epic Caramziru: poema epico do descubrimento da Bahia, a poetic treatment in ten cantos of the discovery of Bahia (Southern Brazil), by Diego Alvarez. This is one of the masterpieces of Brazilian literature, and is remarkable especially for the beauty of its descriptions of South American scenery and Indian life. Failure of the poem to command instant recognition embittered its author, and led him to burn nearly all his other works. A French translation of the Caramziru appeared in Paris in 1829. He died in Lisbon on Jan. 24, 1784.