František Vladimír Lorenc (24 December 1872 – 24 May 1957), known in Portuguese as Francisco Valdomiro Lorenz, was a Czech-born

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Eu ...

and philosopher born in Zbyslav (nowadays part of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

). He was one of the first

Esperantists An Esperantist ( eo, esperantisto) is a person who speaks, reads or writes Esperanto. According to the Declaration of Boulogne, a document agreed upon at the first World Esperanto Congress in 1905, an Esperantist is someone who speaks Esperant ...

in the world, and was able to communicate in over 100 different languages. Lorenz was persecuted by the

Austro-Hungarian monarchy Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

due to his involvement with Esperanto, which was associated with socialist revolutionary movements in the region, and he subsequently moved to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

as a political refugee in 1891. In Brazil, he lived in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

at first, and then in Rio Grande do Sul ( Southern Brazil). Lorenz published over 36 books in 40 languages and was one of the most prominent promoters of Esperanto movement ever in Brazil. Joan Francés Blanc, "O Lorencovi", in František Vladimír Lorenc,
Úplná učebnice mezinárodní řeči dra. Esperanta
', Edicions Talvera, Vert-Saint-Denis, 2012, He died in

Dom Feliciano Dom Feliciano is a municipality in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. As of 2020, it had a population of 15,487 people, of whom 90% are of Polish descent.Francisco Valdomiro Lorenz
- In Portuguese Centro Educacional à Distância (CED

- In Portuguese

External links

* 1872 births 1957 deaths Brazilian Esperantists Brazilian people of Czech descent {{Esperanto-stub