Sofia Quintino (1879-1964) was one of the first female

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

s to graduate in Portugal. An active feminist, who opposed the Portuguese monarchy and

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

, she played a particularly important role in developing a

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...

nursing service, in a country where nursing had previously been the preserve of nuns.

Background and career

Sofia da Conceição Quintino was born in 1879 in the village of Lamas, in the municipality of

Cadaval Cadaval () is a municipality in the Oeste intermunicipal community and Lisbon District of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 14,228,Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. She attended the ''Escola Médico-Cirúrgica de Lisboa'' (Medical-Surgical School of

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 ...

), the institution that would eventually become the Faculty of Medicine at 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 ...

. After graduation, with a thesis entitled ''Some Words Regarding the Sensitization of Bacteria'', she worked as an assistant at the clinical analysis laboratory that served Lisbon's public hospitals. Between 1918 and 1948 she was head of the Physiotherapy Services in public hospitals in Lisbon, also working as a general doctor and a high-school teacher. Midway through her career she returned to university and in 1931 graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

Feminism

As a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

and

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...

, she was involved with Portuguese and international pacifist groups, in addition to being a co-founder of the (''Grupo Português de Estudos Feministas''), which was formed in 1907, led by Ana de Castro Osório,

Adelaide Cabete file:Adelaide Cabete.jpg, Adelaide Cabete Adelaide Cabete (25 January 1867, Elvas – 14 September 1935), was one of the main Portuguese feminists of the 20th century. A staunch Republican, she was an obstetrician, gynecologist, teacher, Freemas ...

, also a doctor with whom Quintino had studied in Lisbon, and Maria Veleda. This organization, which closed in 1908, had the aim of spreading the ideals of female emancipation. Despite its short life it formed the basis for the future development of other, longer-lasting women's movements. Quintino wrote feminist articles in a journal aimed at women, ''Jornal das Senhoras'', and wrote training material for women, with special attention to children's health. Like most of those who shared her beliefs, she was also a Republican in favour of the overthrow of the monarchy, which took place on 5 October 1910. After the establishment of the

First Portuguese Republic The First Portuguese Republic (; officially: ''República Portuguesa'', Portuguese Republic) spans a complex 16-year period in the history of Portugal, between the end of the History of Portugal (1834-1910), period of constitutional monarchy ma ...

, and as a member of the Republican League of Portuguese Women, she argued strongly to change the law to permit

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

Nursing

The outbreak of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

(1914–18) led to the creation of several women's movements in support of soldiers and the war wounded, as well as their families. "Assistance of the Portuguese to the Victims of War" was formed by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

but, arguing that such care should not be associated with religion, Sofia Quintino was one of the major drivers of ''Pela Pátria'', a secular organization created in 1914, that conducted the first nursing courses in Portugal that were not held just for

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

s. After Germany declared war on Portugal in March 1916, Quintino was head of nursing training of the Portuguese Women's Crusade, which provided assistance to the mobilized soldiers and was one of the first institutions in Portugal to organize women for the war effort, carrying out activities such as making warm clothes that were sent to the

front Front may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Front'' (1943 film), a 1943 Soviet drama film * '' The Front'', 1976 film Music * The Front (band), an American rock band signed to Columbia Records and active in the 1980s and ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quintino, Sofia People from Cadaval Portuguese republicans Portuguese feminists Portuguese women physicians University of Paris alumni 1879 births 1964 deaths 20th-century Portuguese women physicians 19th-century Portuguese women 20th-century Portuguese physicians 21st-century Portuguese women physicians