Rev. Fr. Aureo Castro Nunes e Castro (1917 – 21 January 1993), better known as Father Aureo Castro, was born at Pico, on Calendaria in the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

, Portugal. He arrived in

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

on 15 September 1931, where, at the age of 14, he entered the St Joseph Diocesan

Seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

, where he studied theory, solfeggio and harmony with the fathers Wilhelm Schmid and Antonio Andre Ngan. He was ordained a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

on 8 September 1943. Fr. Aureo was professor at the seminary and also a

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

and

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

of the Macau

Cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

. He was later appointed St Lawrence

parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

and became director of the Catholic weekly newspaper ''O Clarim''. Other posts held by Fr. Aureo included professor of choral singing and professor of \religion and morals at the

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and the Pedro Nolasco Commercial School. In 1951, Fr. Aureo went to

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

to study music at the National Conservatory, where he also studied voice and piano with Biermann, Arminda Correia and Croner de Vasconcelos (1910–1974). He was also assistant to the Portuguese conductor and musicologist Mario Sampayo Ribeiro (1898–1966) in the choir of the

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; ) is a public university, public research university in Lisbon, and Portugal's largest university. It was founded in 1911, but the university's present structure dates to the 2013 merger of the former Universit ...

. He graduated with a distinction in Music Composition in 1958. While he lived in Portugal, he completed the "Sonata No 1, Tres Conrais Melodias Gregorianas", "Sonata No 2, Sonatina no1" and "Sonatina no2. His Te Deum" for choir and organ. They premiered at the church of Sao Joao de Deus, Lisbon. Returning to Macau, he promoted religious singing and founded the "Grupo Coral Polifonico" in 1959. In 1962, along with Father Cesar Brianza, he founded the " Academia de Musica de S. Pio X" of which he became Director. "Dancas da Siu Mui Mui", a piano suite for children, was composed in 1967-68 and published in Hong Kong in 1971. Besides academic studies, the Academia de Musica de S Pio X organized public concerts, free of charge, and invited many internationally famous musicians to give concerts in Macau. In 1983, he founded the Macau Chamber Orchestra with British composer Stuart Bonner and a group of friends. The members of the orchestra were amateur musicians and music teachers from the Academy, which was later incorporated to the Macau Cultural Institute. Fr. Aureo dedicated his life to the promotion of music and his talents as teacher and composer are widely recognized. Today, students from the Academia can be found in Portugal, France, Switzerland, Australia, USA and Canada. In 1987 and 1990, he was twice decorated by the Macau Government with the Medal of Cultural Merit. Fr. Aureo died on 21 January 1993, aged 76, at the Complexo Hospitalar Conde de S. Januario, and was buried at the Cemetery of Sao Miguel Arcanjo.

Works

* Aurei Carmina-Pianoforte e Organo (Copyright of Cioecesis Macaonensis) * Aurei Carmina-Choro (Copyright of Cioecesis Macaonensis) * Some other Symphonies which remained unpublished today.

External links

Official website of Academia da Musica S Pio X
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castro, Aureo Macau Roman Catholic priests 1917 births 1993 deaths 20th-century Macau people 20th-century Portuguese Roman Catholic priests 20th-century Chinese Roman Catholic priests