Noblewoman and royal mistress. Also known as the Marchioness of Santos (Marquesa de Santos), she was the long-term mistress and favourite of Emperor Pedro I of Brazil and a famous and polarising figure of 19th century Brazil. Domitila belonged to a traditional São Paulo noble family, being the daughter of the Brigadier João de Castro Canto e Melo, made Viscount of Castro in 1826 and Escolástica Bonifácia de Toledo Ribas. On January 13, 1813, in São Paulo, Domitila, at the age of fifteen, married an officer from the 2nd squad of the Corps of Dragons in the city of Vila Rica (now Ouro Preto), Ensign Felício Moniz Pinto Coelho de Mendonça, cited by the majority of historians as an extremely violent man, who beat and raped her, and from whom she divorced on May 21, 1824, going down in history as an absolute tyrant. After the wedding, Felício and Domitila left for Vila Rica. Three children were born from the marriage: Francisca in 1813, Felício in 1816 and João in 1819, who died as an infant (some historians state that this child died as a result of the violence Domitila suffered during her pregnancy). Due to her husband's mistreatment, Domitila obtained permission from his family in São Paulo to return to her father's home with her children. He arrived back in São Paulo at the end of 1816. Felício managed to transfer his post in the army from Vila Rica to Santos and settled in São Paulo, trying to reconcile with his wife and in 1818 they returned to live together. However, given his drinking and gambling problems, it did not take long for Felício to return to his old behavior, and began the beatings and death threats to his wife. On the morning of March 6, 1819, he surprised Domitila next to the Santa Luiza fountain and stabbed her twice, one stab caught in the thigh and the other in the belly. Felício was arrested and taken to Santos, from where he left for Rio de Janeiro. Domitila spent two months between life and death. When she recovered from her injuries, she had to fight legally against her father-in-law, who wanted to take the children to educate them in the Captaincy of Minas Gerais. Domitila asked for Felício's legal separation but only obtained it five years later, when she was already the Emperor's mistress. Domitila's detractors would accuse her of betraying Felício after the assault, trying to justify the aggression, when in reality, through documentation and witnesses in the divorce process, he had tried to kill her to sell the land that both, with the death of his mother, had jointly inherited in Minas Gerais. Domitila met Pedro, Prince-Regent of Brazil on August 29, 1822, days before the Proclamation of the Independence. The Prince-Regent was returning from a visit to Santos when he received, on the banks of the Ipiranga Brook, in São Paulo, two missives (one from his wife, Princess Maria Leopoldina of Austria and another from José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva) that informed him about the decisions of the Portuguese Courts, in which Pedro stopped being Prince-Regent and received orders to return to the continent, which led to him declare Brazil's independence. They began meeting in secret but the relationship was made public soon after. Domitila was not the only lover of Pedro, but she was the most important and the one with whom he had the longest relationship. During his relationship with Domitila he had other parallel ones, such as Adèle Bonpland (wife of French naturalist Aimé Bonpland) and the dressmaker Clémence de Saisset (whose husband had a store at Rua do Ouvidor). In addition to these liaisons, Domitila's own sister, Maria Benedita de Castro Canto e Melo, Baroness of Sorocaba, also had a son with Pedro. In 1823, the now Emperor Pedro I installed Domitila at Rua Barão de Ubá (today the Estácio neighborhood) which was her first residence in Rio de Janeiro. One year later, and thanks to the support of her lover, Domitila was able to have her first marriage nullified. Even after this, Felício sent a threatening letter to her and, as a consequence, Emperor Pedro travelled to his farm and violently spanked him with a whip until he promised to never bother Domitila again. In 1826, she received as a gift the "Casa Amarela", as her mansion became known, at number 293 of the current Avenida D. Pedro II, near Quinta da Boa Vista, in São Cristóvão (where the Museum of the First Reign now operates). The Emperor bought the house from Dr. Teodoro Ferreira de Aguiar and ordered a renovation in a neoclassical style to the architect Pierre Joseph Pézerat. The internal mural paintings are the work of Francisco Pedro do Amaral, while the internal and external bas-reliefs by Zéphyrin Ferrez. Domitila was being elevated by her lover little by little. In 1824 she was created Baroness of Santos; on April 4, 1825 she was appointed Lady-in-waiting of Empress Maria Leopoldina, on October 12 of the same year was created Viscountess of Santos with designation as a Grandee and, on October 12, 1826 she was finally created Marchioness of Santos. Besides all this titles, on April 4, 1827 the Emperor invested his mistress with the Order of Saint Isabel, who was solely granted "to women of irreproachable conduct". Although Domitila was not born in that city, the Emperor, in an attempt to attack the de Andrada brothers, born in Santos, would have given the titles to his mistress. José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva, upon learning of this fact in his exile in France, wrote to his friend Counselor Drummond: "Who would have dreamt that the michela (prostitute) Domitila would be Viscountess of the homeland of the Andradas! What a brazen insult!". Domitila's family also received several imperial benefits: her father became Viscount of Castro, her brother Francisco became the Emperor's Field Assistant and the rest of her siblings received Hidalgo precedence. Domitila's brother-in-law, Boaventura Delfim Pereira (husband of Maria Benedita), was made Baron of Sorocaba. From her relationship with Emperor Pedro I, Domitila had five children: a stillborn son in 1823, Isabel Maria in 1824, Pedro in 1825, who died as an infant, Maria Isabel in 1827, who also died as an infant and another Maria Isabel, in 1830. Their scandalous relationship caused the Empress Maria Leopoldina enormous humiliation and suffering, leading her to a deep depression. In a letter to her sister Maria Louisa who lived in Europe, Maria Leopoldina vented: "The seductive monster is the cause of all misfortunes", regarding the Marchioness. The Empress died in 1826 due to complications caused by a miscarriage, amidst rumours which blamed Domitila of the illness and death of the beloved Empress of the people. The Marchioness of Santos' popularity, which was no longer the best, worsened, with her house in São Cristóvão being stoned and her brother-in-law, a chamberlain of the Empress, received two shots. Her right to preside over medical appointments of the Empress, as her lady-in-waiting, was denied, and ministers and officials of the palace suggested that she should not continue to attend court. Emperor Pedro I ended his relationship with Domitila in late 1829 due to his second marriage with Amélie of Beauharnais. Already since 1827 he had been looking for a noble blood bride but the sufferings caused to his late wife by him and the scandalous link with the Marchioness of Santos were seen with horror by European courts and several princesses refused to marry the Emperor. The Austrian ambassador to Rio de Janeiro, Baron Wenzel Philipp von Mareschal, wrote to Vienna about the future marriage of the Emperor and the banishment of the mistress: "Emperor D. Pedro was eventually convinced that the presence of the Lady of Santos would always be inopportune and that a simple change of residence would not satisfy anyone; he insisted on the sale of her properties, which I heard was already provided and on her departure to São Paulo in eight or ten days." The Emperor bought the properties from the Marchioness of Santos in Rio de Janeiro for 240 contos. Regarding the residence bought from the former mistress, Mareschal sayed: "It will serve the young Queen and her court." It was Maria da Glória, future Queen Maria II of Portugal; that is why it would later be known as the Queen's Palace, as effectively Maria settled there, albeit for a short period. Later it was bought by the Viscount of Mauá and around 1900 the residence was acquired by Dr. Abel Parente. It became the Museum of the First Reign in the late 1980s until 2011 when it was deactivated and the restoration and adaptation of the space began to receive the Fashion Museum - Casa da Marquesa de Santos. Since 1833 Domitila began to cohabitate with the Brigadier Rafael Tobias de Aguiar (with whom she officially married in the city of Sorocaba on June 14, 1842). Aguiar was not only a politician but a wealthy Sorocaban farmer: the base of his fortune was the trade in mules, but in time he ended up diversifying his business with sugar farms, cattle and horse breeding. The Tobian coat was created by him. Nicknamed the "Reizinho de São Paulo" ("Little King of São Paulo") thanks to his fortune, he held the position of President of the Province of São Paulo for two terms and was elected Provincial Deputy for São Paulo. He ran twice for the position of Senator of the Empire, but his name was never chosen by Emperor Pedro II of Brazil. They had six children: Rafael in 1834, João in 1835, Gertrudes in 1837, who died as an infant, António in 1838, Brasílico in 1840 and Heitor in 1841, who also died as an infant. On her return to São Paulo after the end of her relationship with the Emperor, Domitila acquired in 1834 a vast mansion at the old Rua do Carmo, currently Rua Roberto Simonsen in the city center. The property became the center of São Paulo high society, animated by masquerade balls and literary evening parties hosted by the Marchioness. The mansion today belongs to the City Hall of São Paulo, which had the Museum of the City installed there. Its historical importance is great not only because of its link to Domitila but because the property is the only urban remnant built using the technique known as rammed earth still existing in the historic center of the city. After being widowed, the Marchioness of Santos became devout and charitable, seeking to help the helpless, protecting the miserable and hungry, caring for the sick and students of the Law Faculty, in the city center. The Marchioness died of enterocolitis in her residence, on November 3, 1867, aged 69. She was buried in Cemitério da Consolação, whose original chapel was built with a donation made by her. Domitila's grave always receives fresh flowers from people who continue to consider her a popular saint. Among popular legends is one that she protects the prostitutes of the city and, due to having achieved a good marriage and worthily restructuring her life after her scandalous relationship with Emperor Pedro I of Brazil, she became an inspiration for girls who wanted to marry well. In her headstone there are plaques from devotees thanking her for graces granted to them.
Noblewoman and royal mistress. Also known as the Marchioness of Santos (Marquesa de Santos), she was the long-term mistress and favourite of Emperor Pedro I of Brazil and a famous and polarising figure of 19th century Brazil. Domitila belonged to a traditional São Paulo noble family, being the daughter of the Brigadier João de Castro Canto e Melo, made Viscount of Castro in 1826 and Escolástica Bonifácia de Toledo Ribas. On January 13, 1813, in São Paulo, Domitila, at the age of fifteen, married an officer from the 2nd squad of the Corps of Dragons in the city of Vila Rica (now Ouro Preto), Ensign Felício Moniz Pinto Coelho de Mendonça, cited by the majority of historians as an extremely violent man, who beat and raped her, and from whom she divorced on May 21, 1824, going down in history as an absolute tyrant. After the wedding, Felício and Domitila left for Vila Rica. Three children were born from the marriage: Francisca in 1813, Felício in 1816 and João in 1819, who died as an infant (some historians state that this child died as a result of the violence Domitila suffered during her pregnancy). Due to her husband's mistreatment, Domitila obtained permission from his family in São Paulo to return to her father's home with her children. He arrived back in São Paulo at the end of 1816. Felício managed to transfer his post in the army from Vila Rica to Santos and settled in São Paulo, trying to reconcile with his wife and in 1818 they returned to live together. However, given his drinking and gambling problems, it did not take long for Felício to return to his old behavior, and began the beatings and death threats to his wife. On the morning of March 6, 1819, he surprised Domitila next to the Santa Luiza fountain and stabbed her twice, one stab caught in the thigh and the other in the belly. Felício was arrested and taken to Santos, from where he left for Rio de Janeiro. Domitila spent two months between life and death. When she recovered from her injuries, she had to fight legally against her father-in-law, who wanted to take the children to educate them in the Captaincy of Minas Gerais. Domitila asked for Felício's legal separation but only obtained it five years later, when she was already the Emperor's mistress. Domitila's detractors would accuse her of betraying Felício after the assault, trying to justify the aggression, when in reality, through documentation and witnesses in the divorce process, he had tried to kill her to sell the land that both, with the death of his mother, had jointly inherited in Minas Gerais. Domitila met Pedro, Prince-Regent of Brazil on August 29, 1822, days before the Proclamation of the Independence. The Prince-Regent was returning from a visit to Santos when he received, on the banks of the Ipiranga Brook, in São Paulo, two missives (one from his wife, Princess Maria Leopoldina of Austria and another from José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva) that informed him about the decisions of the Portuguese Courts, in which Pedro stopped being Prince-Regent and received orders to return to the continent, which led to him declare Brazil's independence. They began meeting in secret but the relationship was made public soon after. Domitila was not the only lover of Pedro, but she was the most important and the one with whom he had the longest relationship. During his relationship with Domitila he had other parallel ones, such as Adèle Bonpland (wife of French naturalist Aimé Bonpland) and the dressmaker Clémence de Saisset (whose husband had a store at Rua do Ouvidor). In addition to these liaisons, Domitila's own sister, Maria Benedita de Castro Canto e Melo, Baroness of Sorocaba, also had a son with Pedro. In 1823, the now Emperor Pedro I installed Domitila at Rua Barão de Ubá (today the Estácio neighborhood) which was her first residence in Rio de Janeiro. One year later, and thanks to the support of her lover, Domitila was able to have her first marriage nullified. Even after this, Felício sent a threatening letter to her and, as a consequence, Emperor Pedro travelled to his farm and violently spanked him with a whip until he promised to never bother Domitila again. In 1826, she received as a gift the "Casa Amarela", as her mansion became known, at number 293 of the current Avenida D. Pedro II, near Quinta da Boa Vista, in São Cristóvão (where the Museum of the First Reign now operates). The Emperor bought the house from Dr. Teodoro Ferreira de Aguiar and ordered a renovation in a neoclassical style to the architect Pierre Joseph Pézerat. The internal mural paintings are the work of Francisco Pedro do Amaral, while the internal and external bas-reliefs by Zéphyrin Ferrez. Domitila was being elevated by her lover little by little. In 1824 she was created Baroness of Santos; on April 4, 1825 she was appointed Lady-in-waiting of Empress Maria Leopoldina, on October 12 of the same year was created Viscountess of Santos with designation as a Grandee and, on October 12, 1826 she was finally created Marchioness of Santos. Besides all this titles, on April 4, 1827 the Emperor invested his mistress with the Order of Saint Isabel, who was solely granted "to women of irreproachable conduct". Although Domitila was not born in that city, the Emperor, in an attempt to attack the de Andrada brothers, born in Santos, would have given the titles to his mistress. José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva, upon learning of this fact in his exile in France, wrote to his friend Counselor Drummond: "Who would have dreamt that the michela (prostitute) Domitila would be Viscountess of the homeland of the Andradas! What a brazen insult!". Domitila's family also received several imperial benefits: her father became Viscount of Castro, her brother Francisco became the Emperor's Field Assistant and the rest of her siblings received Hidalgo precedence. Domitila's brother-in-law, Boaventura Delfim Pereira (husband of Maria Benedita), was made Baron of Sorocaba. From her relationship with Emperor Pedro I, Domitila had five children: a stillborn son in 1823, Isabel Maria in 1824, Pedro in 1825, who died as an infant, Maria Isabel in 1827, who also died as an infant and another Maria Isabel, in 1830. Their scandalous relationship caused the Empress Maria Leopoldina enormous humiliation and suffering, leading her to a deep depression. In a letter to her sister Maria Louisa who lived in Europe, Maria Leopoldina vented: "The seductive monster is the cause of all misfortunes", regarding the Marchioness. The Empress died in 1826 due to complications caused by a miscarriage, amidst rumours which blamed Domitila of the illness and death of the beloved Empress of the people. The Marchioness of Santos' popularity, which was no longer the best, worsened, with her house in São Cristóvão being stoned and her brother-in-law, a chamberlain of the Empress, received two shots. Her right to preside over medical appointments of the Empress, as her lady-in-waiting, was denied, and ministers and officials of the palace suggested that she should not continue to attend court. Emperor Pedro I ended his relationship with Domitila in late 1829 due to his second marriage with Amélie of Beauharnais. Already since 1827 he had been looking for a noble blood bride but the sufferings caused to his late wife by him and the scandalous link with the Marchioness of Santos were seen with horror by European courts and several princesses refused to marry the Emperor. The Austrian ambassador to Rio de Janeiro, Baron Wenzel Philipp von Mareschal, wrote to Vienna about the future marriage of the Emperor and the banishment of the mistress: "Emperor D. Pedro was eventually convinced that the presence of the Lady of Santos would always be inopportune and that a simple change of residence would not satisfy anyone; he insisted on the sale of her properties, which I heard was already provided and on her departure to São Paulo in eight or ten days." The Emperor bought the properties from the Marchioness of Santos in Rio de Janeiro for 240 contos. Regarding the residence bought from the former mistress, Mareschal sayed: "It will serve the young Queen and her court." It was Maria da Glória, future Queen Maria II of Portugal; that is why it would later be known as the Queen's Palace, as effectively Maria settled there, albeit for a short period. Later it was bought by the Viscount of Mauá and around 1900 the residence was acquired by Dr. Abel Parente. It became the Museum of the First Reign in the late 1980s until 2011 when it was deactivated and the restoration and adaptation of the space began to receive the Fashion Museum - Casa da Marquesa de Santos. Since 1833 Domitila began to cohabitate with the Brigadier Rafael Tobias de Aguiar (with whom she officially married in the city of Sorocaba on June 14, 1842). Aguiar was not only a politician but a wealthy Sorocaban farmer: the base of his fortune was the trade in mules, but in time he ended up diversifying his business with sugar farms, cattle and horse breeding. The Tobian coat was created by him. Nicknamed the "Reizinho de São Paulo" ("Little King of São Paulo") thanks to his fortune, he held the position of President of the Province of São Paulo for two terms and was elected Provincial Deputy for São Paulo. He ran twice for the position of Senator of the Empire, but his name was never chosen by Emperor Pedro II of Brazil. They had six children: Rafael in 1834, João in 1835, Gertrudes in 1837, who died as an infant, António in 1838, Brasílico in 1840 and Heitor in 1841, who also died as an infant. On her return to São Paulo after the end of her relationship with the Emperor, Domitila acquired in 1834 a vast mansion at the old Rua do Carmo, currently Rua Roberto Simonsen in the city center. The property became the center of São Paulo high society, animated by masquerade balls and literary evening parties hosted by the Marchioness. The mansion today belongs to the City Hall of São Paulo, which had the Museum of the City installed there. Its historical importance is great not only because of its link to Domitila but because the property is the only urban remnant built using the technique known as rammed earth still existing in the historic center of the city. After being widowed, the Marchioness of Santos became devout and charitable, seeking to help the helpless, protecting the miserable and hungry, caring for the sick and students of the Law Faculty, in the city center. The Marchioness died of enterocolitis in her residence, on November 3, 1867, aged 69. She was buried in Cemitério da Consolação, whose original chapel was built with a donation made by her. Domitila's grave always receives fresh flowers from people who continue to consider her a popular saint. Among popular legends is one that she protects the prostitutes of the city and, due to having achieved a good marriage and worthily restructuring her life after her scandalous relationship with Emperor Pedro I of Brazil, she became an inspiration for girls who wanted to marry well. In her headstone there are plaques from devotees thanking her for graces granted to them.
Bio by: rodrigues
Family Members
Siblings
Advertisement
See more de Castro Canto e Melo memorials in:
Advertisement
