Two hundred fifty years ago, Lisbon, Portugal, a city with a population of 275,000 people, was one of Europe's shining stars and a leading center of trade, architecture, education, theater, and religion. That would all change on all Saints Day, November 1, 1755, when the unthinkable occurred. Without warning, between 9 and 10 in the morning, when most citizens of Lisbon were at mass in the forty cathedrals and churches that dotted the city, disaster struck.

Measuring close to a magnitude of 9 on the Richter Scale, an earthquake violently struck. For ten minutes, the ground beneath Lisbon shook from three distinct tremors, the second being the most catastrophic. Massive fissures, up to fifteen feet wide ruptured the center of Lisbon. It is believed that in the first minutes of the earthquake 30,000 people died as they prayed in church or went about their lives in the city. Survivors scrambled to the sea, heading to the banks of the river Tejo, to the docks which sent sailors to glorious discoveries and brought back riches to Portugal. Many survivors boarded ships anchored at the docks for fear of standing on the rollicking earth.

Thirty minutes after the shaking stopped, the water receded from the shore, and returned in a mighty wall of water 50 feet high, slamming the decimated city. Thousands more were instantly killed as water engulfed and swept them away to sea. Two more ferocious 50 foot waves unleashed their fury upon Lisbon and her citizens. The impact of the tsunamis were so great they were felt from Morocco to Finland to the North American eastern seaboard. Still, the destructive forces were not through with Lisbon. Fires broke out. The city burned for five days.

The disaster reduced eighty-five percent of the buildings in Lisbon to rubble. Instantly gone were palaces, distinctive 16th century Manueline architecture, cathedrals, most churches, the Royal Palace, which housed invaluable pieces of art, a 70,000 volume library, royal archives, and maps and records of Portugal's famed explorers like Vasco da Gama. The human loss was horrendous: 90,000 of Lisbon's inhabitants were dead.

King Jose I and his family survived, as they were on holiday outside Lisbon when disaster struck. Upon his return to the ruins of Lisbon, he turned to his Prime Minister, Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, famously known as the Marquês de Pombal, and asked "What should we do?" to which the Marquês responded, "Bury the dead and feed the living." Thus began the reconstruction of Lisbon, under the guidance of the Marquês de Pombal.

The enormous disaster would seemingly cripple Lisbon for decades to come. The daunting task of reconstruction undertaken by the Marquês de Pombal's government faced interference from Jesuit zealots who claimed the cause of the great disaster was the sins of the people of Lisbon. These zealots wanted people to repent not rebuild. The Marquês de Pombal believed that nature was the sole cause which had wrought the disaster and, to accomplish his goals, he forcefully removed the zealots' power from the government. Focusing on the task at hand, the Marquês hired engineers who designed a new city center, with wide streets intersecting at right angles, and innovative construction designed to withstand earthquakes. By June, 1775, just short of the 20th anniversary of the great disaster, Lisbon was reborn with a three day celebration dedicating the new center of Lisbon, o Rossio. An equestrian statue of King Jose I proudly stood at the epicenter of the newly constructed Praça. Foreign dignitaries at the dedication remarked that the new square in Lisbon's center was the most magnificent of all Europe.

The seismic reach of the great Lisbon earthquake extended beyond physical manifestations and affected philosophy, government, and science. It inspired Voltaire's poem "Poeme sur le desastre de Lisbonne" or "Poem of the Lisbon Disaster" which questioned the "all is good" school of thought, prompting Rosseau to disagree by letter to Voltaire, and Immanuel Kant to discuss sources of good from harm, thereby elevating the concept of the sublime. The Marquês de Pombal's attack on Jesuit zealots broke ground in the separation of church and state in Europe, and soon, in a fledgling new democracy in the New World. After the earthquake, the Marquês de Pombal ordered that Portuguese citizens answer a series of questions regarding what they saw and felt during the earthquake. The gathering of this evidence ushered in the study of seismology and is crucial to the understanding of what happened in Lisbon on that fateful day.

Today, however, we have gathered to recognize the achievements of five outstanding students. On their journey here, the scholarship winners have undoubtedly faced tough tasks, from SAT's to final exams, but they have weathered the storm, and we congratulate them, and hope that the Foundation's scholarship gift helps them achieve their goals. To our scholarship winners: remember that life, as always, will present you with obstacles and difficulties to overcome on your way to achieving your goals. Just as the Marquês de Pombal did, you too must evaluate the situation, alter plans, adapt quickly, and move forward. Avoid the overzealous who prey during trying times and attempt to pressure you into doing or believing what they believe to be right. Trust in yourselves. Read and question. You have made it this far, and there is no stopping you. And as a famous troubadour once said, "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows." My sincerest congratulations on your fine achievements and we hope that in your professional career you will remember the Portuguese Foundation, and come back and assist us.

To my colleagues in the Foundation, our little caravela has traveled far in the past 15 years. We have seen calm waters and rough waters. Today the seas appear tsunami-like and all the sailors are bailing out of the caravela. We must never forget that the Foundation's mission, as an organization, is dedicated to the advancement of Portuguese people and dissemination of Portuguese culture throughout the State of Connecticut. Like the Marquês de Pombal, the Foundation must reconstruct, recharge its focus, destroy old perceptions, and work together to rebuild a strong, active Foundation so that future worthy students too can receive the assistance the Foundation has worked so hard to provide 99 scholarships to 75 exceptional students over the last 15 years.

Finally, to our supporters, it is with your help that Foundation can reach its goals. Your banquet ticket purchase, your booklet advertisement, and your donation keeps the Foundation's caravela floating and enables us to help these fine students. Thank you.