– Marco Carvalho
The Holy House of Mercy was honored this Wednesday with the visit of the Portuguese President. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa concluded in Macau a three-day state visit to the People’s Republic of China. His brief but intense visit to the Macao SAR began with a brief stopover in the premises of Macau’s oldest solidarity institution: the Holy House of Mercy.
In a speech of just over ten minutes, in which he addressed directly the brothers of Macau’s Holy House of Mercy, the Portuguese Head of state highlighted the institution’s ability to keep alive its “founding spirit.”
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa recalled the secular history of the Holy House of Mercy and maintained that the centuries old institution embodies perfectly “the Portuguese way of being in the world”: “When we enter this building, a World Heritage site, we feel that history has been made for 450 years. Four hundred and fifty years that depicts very accurately the Portuguese way of being in the world. We are like this. We left our lands, we crossed the sea and we arrived. We arrived and we made an effort towards inclusion. We arrived and made ourselves of service,” the Portuguese president said. “The Holy House remains. And it remains because its founding spirit also remains and is renewed generation after generation. This is the biggest wealth of a nation of almost nine centuries,” the head of State added.
After being received by the head of the Holy House of Mercy, António José de Freitas, the Portuguese president emphasized “the unique history” of the institution, not only in Macau, but also in Asia “where so much of civilization was born and from where so much civilization is projected for the future”.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said he is aware of the challenge that the institution faces. The Holy House, he says, needs to keep faithful to its roots, without betraying its social mission: “Service to the community is a challenge that never exhausts itself and the Holy House has been able to live up to this challenge. Pay no attention to those who think that the succession of generations is weakening the spirit of dedication and work that has been the rule for over four centuries,” the Portuguese ruler said.
In a brief speech, António José de Freitas underscored the idea that the history of the institution is inseparable from the presence of the Portuguese community in China’s south. The ombudsman, who shortly afterwards led Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa through the historic headquarters of the Holy House of Mercy, expressed the desire of the institution “to continue to dignify the good name of Portugal and the Portuguese community” that still remains in Macau.
After the presidential entourage closed the first chapter of Macau’s stage of the State visit, António José de Freitas spoke to O Clarim about the meaning of the Portuguese President’s and reiterated the intention of keeping the historical mission inherited by the Holy House of Mercy alive: “This visit has a very special significance, as you know. We are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the handover and this visit is very important, especially at this stage in which the relationship between Portugal and the People’s Republic of China is at its peak. This visit will consolidate our presence here in Macau and also our connection with the other Holy Houses spread over the world,” Mr Freitas affirmed. “The Holy House is the oldest charitable institution in Macau and we will continue to do our best to honor the work of our ancestors and fulfill the historical mission that we inherited. I am convinced that the Macau Holy House has all the conditions to continue to work the same way it has been doing for the last 450 years,” he concluded.
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