Considering the postponement of the FCCN Days, where a session dedicated to RCAAP (Scientific Repositories of Open Access of Portugal) usually takes place, the project coordination team decided to hold an online meeting, open to the whole community, on May 6th between 10h30 and 12h00.

This meeting has two objectives. On the one hand, to meet and maintain the annual meetings with the RCAAP community, making known the activities and developments of the project. On the other hand, given the current pandemic situation COVID-19, to identify and discuss the challenges and opportunities that this situation presents for Open Science in general, and for the RCAAP community in particular.

The program planned for the meeting is composed of two moments:

Part 1 (30 m): RCAAP highlights (Institutional Repositories, Scientific Journals and Research Data Management);

Part 2 (60 m): Panel of Invited Guests for debate on Open Science in the context of Covid-19.

The session will be free of charge but registration is mandatory.

In times of social confinement, the Faculty of Theology of the Portuguese Catholic University invites the entire academic community to attend the recent initiative promoted by its lecturers and researchers, entitled "Palavras para este tempo" or "Words for this time".

The initiative consists of the presentation of short videos on the social networks Facebook and Youtube of FT Braga-Lisbon-Porto, with the reading of a brief excerpt of a work, selected by each teacher / researcher, with a word relevant to the time we live.

Taking into account UCP's phased reactivation plan, its Libraries will extend the offer of services made available in person as of June 15. You can consult the specific information regarding each Library, as well as the contacts through which you can proceed with your appointments.

We remind you that the access and/or permanence in the spaces of the Libraries requires the use of masks and regular hand sanitizing measures, rules that must be complemented with a physical distance appropriate to each context. Also in the scope of the security measures adopted, we inform you that a maximum number of places available in each Library has been defined, and all works consulted and returned are subject to a 48-hour quarantine period.

Lisbon Library

All services require prior appointment via email:

Face-to-face consultation of works (9:30 to 17:30);
Home loan;
Digitization of information resources;
E-mail: emprestimo.biblioteca.lisboa@ucp.pt 

Telephone: (+351) 214 269 772 or 214 269 773

Porto Library

All services require prior appointment via email:

Face-to-face consultation of works (9:00 to 13:00 and 15:00 to 19:00);
Home loan;
Digitization of information resources;
E-mail: biblioteca@porto.ucp.pt

Telephone: (+351) 226 196 241

More information.

Braga Libraries

All services require prior appointment via email:

Face-to-face consultation of works (9:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 17:00);
Home loan;
E-mail: biblioteca.ffcs@braga.ucp.pt (Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences)

E-mail: biblioteca.facteo@braga.ucp.pt (Faculty of Theology)

Telephone: (+351) 253 206 100

Viseu Library

Face-to-face consultation of works (8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.);
Home loan;
E-mail: bjps@viseu.ucp.pt   

Telephone: (+351) 232 419 500 or 232 419 520

It is also informed that the remaining support services to the academic community that have been provided, namely through telephone and online platforms, will continue to be provided through these channels.

Sophie Emanuelle dos Santos Alves, a student at the Faculdade de Teologia, won the National Secretariat of Christian Education Award, 2020 Edition, for the best student of the Degree in Religious Sciences.

The award ceremony took place last November 27 at the Porto Regional Centre of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa.

João Paulo II University Library invites its users to participate in a study that is being carried out by a collaborator from the D. José Pedro da Silva Library (Viseu Regional Centre), by completing a short questionnaire.

This research is part of a Master's degree research thesis in Management, from Universidade Católica Portuguesa – (Viseu Regional Centre). This thesis project aims to collect data to study "The Importance of Communication and Relationship Marketing in Higher Education Libraries: the Case of UCP Libraries".

Completing this questionnaire should not take more than 10 minutes and we would like to thank you for your cooperation.

Link to the questionnaire

The Escola de Enfermagem (Lisbon) of the Instituto de Ciências da Saúde and the University Library João Paulo II (BUJPII) mark the International Nurses' Day, which is celebrated on May 12, with a temporary exhibition entitled: "Nursing Care: History and Innovation".

The pieces were carefully selected from the collection of the of the Escola de Enfermagem de Lisboa.

The museological collection gathered here allows, through its study and dissemination, to recover past memories that establish affective relationships that enhance a present and future open to innovation and knowledge, within the framework of the values and mission of the Universidade Católica.

We invite the entire academic community to visit the entrance hall of BUJPII, on the 3rd floor as of May 12!

With "The child under the eyes of Eduardo Teixeira Pinto" as theme, the D. José Pedro da Silva Library promotes another initiative to publicize the estate of Eduardo Teixeira Pinto, hosting, from July 1st, a new exhibition of 27 photographs, in black and white, awarded nationally and internationally, alluding to the 50s, 60s and 70s.

It will run until October 31 and can be visited, from Monday to Friday, from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm and from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm, respecting a maximum capacity of 15 people, simultaneously, and complying with the rules of protection and safety defined by the Directorate-General for Health and the Universidade Católica Portuguesa.

The Faculdade de Teologia, in partnership with the National Secretariat of Christian Education and the Diocesan Secretariats of Christian Education of the dioceses of Porto, Vila Real and Aveiro, promotes, in Porto, from November 6 to December 4, 2021, the training course in b-Learning regime dedicated to the theme "The 7th grade EMRC programme: its curricular relevance".

Designed for teachers of Catholic Moral and Religious Education (EMRC), the training is accredited for recruitment group 290 - Catholic Moral and Religious Education and is registered CCPFC/ACC-111409/21.

The Action is relevant for career progression purposes and participation requires mandatory online registration.

The contents, programme and registration procedures can be found here.

The UCP Libraries network will carry out a training cycle focused on its resources and services offered, denominated "Information and research resources".

During this cycle, which will run from October 11th to October 15th, the various relevant information resources available to the UCP community will be presented, such as Bibliographic Catalog/EDS, b-on, Scopus and Web of Science. Some basic search techniques on these platforms will also be shared.

This training cycle will be open to all interested parties, with no prior registration or limit of participants, just access it through the Microsoft Teams links created for each session, available on the UCP events page or on the UCP Libraries Training Portal.

The Portuguese version of each session will be at 10 am and, if participants are interested, the English version will take place at 6 pm on the same day.

Sessions plan

For more information, see the UCP Libraries Training Portal.

You can also get in touch with the UCP Libraries training team through the email address: formacao.bibliotecas@ucp.pt

The first phase of registration for the Advanced Training in Journalism and Religions, a joint organization of the Faculdade de Ciências Humanas and the Faculdade de Teologia of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, is open until December 3. The second phase will run from December 4 to January 21, 2022.

Starting on February 4, 2022, this Advanced Training is aimed at media professionals, other professionals with an interest in the area and the general public, taking place after working hours and on-site.

Coordinated by Catarina Burnay and Nuno Estevão, it is structured in 51h of presence between 6.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. (Fridays) and between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. (Saturdays).

More information about the Advanced Training in Journalism and Religions here.

"Memory is often a place of conflict, but an initiative like this exhibition shows us that when we share memories and talk about the past, we are better prepared for the present". These words were spoken by Peter Hanenberg, Vice-Rector of Universidade Católica Portuguesa, at the inauguration of the exhibition on Blessed Charles of Austria-Hungary.

The exhibition "Life and Memory of Blessed Charles of Austria-Hungary" was inaugurated with a lecture by José Miguel Sardica, professor at the Faculty of Human Sciences, and will be open until 30th April at the João Paulo II University Library at the Católica headquarters in Lisbon.

"Why is it important to know Blessed Charles of Austria-Hungary today?", the historian began. Summarising the life of the last Emperor of Hungary, the professor highlighted the aspects that make this figure relevant today and his exemplary qualities.

"History is unanimous in recognising his simplicity, humanity and devotion," he declared, adding that "his figure and his story are increasingly relevant because, for the first time in 70 years, the European continent is at war, as it was at the time of Emperor Charles".

Blessed by a decision of Pope John Paul II, he was "the first contemporary head of state to be raised to the altars and the only Habsburg in the 650-year history of the family to deserve the honour of beatification" for his exemplary life.

For José Miguel Sardica, "Blessed Charles of Austria-Hungary shows us that exemplarity and the approach to sanctity are possible among lay people", adding that "today, our heroes are full of nothing, and Emperor Charles was no nothing, he was an absolute everything, in that search for peace".

Also present at the event, the Hungarian Ambassador, Miklós Halmai, stressed that "in Charles we can honour a great personality at European level. He ruled in times of war, but was an emperor of peace".

Fr. João Vergamota, director of the Higher Institute of Canon Law, one of the organisers of the initiative, recalled that Charles of Habsburg was the only head of state to respond positively to Pope Benedict XV's call for peace during the First World War. "Blessed Charles is an eloquent symbol of a sovereign who opens his heart to the proposals of the Church for the good of all," he concluded.

The exhibition will be open until 30th April, marking the end of the year commemorating the centenary of the death of Emperor Charles on 1st April 1922. The project has already had an analogous edition at the Porto campus and now arrives at the Católica headquarters.

The John Paul II University Library and the Higher Institute of Canon Law (ISDC) of the Universidade Católica are organizing together with the Embassy of Hungary the exhibition "Life and Memory of Charles of Habsburg", to be inaugurated on March 10, at 6 p.m.

This joint initiative of the Universidade Católica evokes the determination on behalf of peace of the Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary.

The inauguration of this exhibition will feature the presence of Isabel Capeloa Gil, President of the University, Miklós Halmai, Ambassador of Hungary, Peter Hanenberg, Vice-Rector of the University, and Fr. João Vergamota, Director of ISDC.

At the event, José Miguel Sardica, professor of the Faculty of Human Sciences will give a lecture on Charles I of Habsburg.

The exhibition will be open to the public until the end of April.

As it happens every year, June 10th is the "Day of Portugal, Camões and the Portuguese Communities", the date attributed to the death of the author of "Os Lusíadas", the great national epic poem. During the First Republic, the date was initially celebrated as a municipal holiday in Lisbon, but was later elevated to a bank holiday by the Estado Novo, which renamed it "Day of Camões, of Portugal and of the Race", from a nationalist and imperial perspective. It was temporarily celebrated as "Community Day" in the years following the April 25th revolution, only to acquire its current designation in 1978, in the context of the stabilisation of the new democratic regime. In its continuity, the holiday of June 10 thus aims to pay tribute to Portugal, the Portuguese, the Lusophone culture and the Portuguese presence throughout the world, being celebrated in Portugal and, since 2016, with the Portuguese communities abroad (cf. art. 2, Decree-Law no. 20-A/2016, of April 27).

June 10 is one of the four national holidays with which the country officially celebrates its civic, cultural and political identity: June 10, October 5, December 1 and April 25. With the celebration of each of these holidays, the country highlights some of the features considered to be important in the way Portugal defines itself and understands itself as a nation, based on the evocation of some milestones of the past. Thus, and respectively: June 10 celebrates its history and culture, defined and understood in a universalistic reading; October 5 commemorates the political regime proclaimed in 1910, while underlining the ideas of citizenship and civility to which the idea of the Republic points; December 1 marks the value of national sovereignty and independence, resulting not only from a philosophical ideology, but from a political will historically reaffirmed with the restoration of 1640, after the dynastic union experienced with neighbouring Spain; April 25 celebrates the value of modern freedom and democracy, as a form of affirmation and respect for human rights, following the 1974 revolution, and having as its explicit foundation "the dignity of the human person" that the 1976 Constitution of the Portuguese Republic expressly recognises in its Article 1.

The existence of these four national political holidays, together with religious holidays, speaks volumes about the complexity of understanding the national identity of a country, in its unity and diversity. It is true that Portugal is the oldest nation-state in Europe with its continental borders practically unchanged, which greatly contributes to the fact that there is no national identity problem, as is the case with other modern European states, namely Spain. However, stating that "Portugal is a nation" raises multiple questions regarding the definition and experience of a polyhedral identity, the expression of homeland feelings, the recognition and experience of the various cultural communities that today assume and manifest this common identity (cf. José Manuel Sobral – Portugal, Portugueses: uma identidade nacional. Lisboa: Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos, 2012). And points to the need to know and study proposals for a global reading, with different perspectives and produced from the most diverse areas of knowledge, such as geography (Orlando Ribeiro - Portugal, o Mediterrâneo e o Atlântico, 1943), geopolitics (Jorge Borges de Macedo - História diplomática portuguesa: constantes e linhas de força, 1978), culture (Eduardo Lourenço – O Labirinto da Saudade: psicanálise mítica do destino português, 1978), history (José Mattoso – Identificação de um país, 1986-1988), philosophy (José Gil – Portugal, Hoje: o medo de existir, 2004), biology (Mário Ruivo – Do mar oceano ao mar português, 2015) or poetry (José Tolentino Mendonça - Speech on June 10, 2020), among others.

Reflection on the identity and destiny of a country remains an always current question, but one to which attention must be paid in times of globalisation and simplifying ideological polarisations. Only the critical study of the past combined with a careful observation and reading of the present reality can help to counteract simplistic and reductionist visions of social complexity. This is one of the challenges facing Universities today, in general, and the study of the Humanities in particular.

This year, the commemorations of the Day of Portugal, Camões and Portuguese Communities began in South Africa. In Portugal, the festivities on June 10 will take place in Peso da Régua, in the context of the designation of the Douro, a World Heritage Site, as European Capital of Wine in 2023. Let's celebrate!

Paulo F. Oliveira Fontes
Historian, professor at the Faculty of Theology and director of the Centre of Religious History Studies