Azarías Pallais facts for kids
Azarías de Jesús Pallais, also known as Azarías H. Pallais, was a very important poet from Nicaragua. He was born in León on November 3, 1884, and passed away on September 6, 1954. His father was a doctor, and his mother was related to a well-known politician named Maximo Jerez. Azarías Pallais was also a descendant of a Frenchman named Henri Pallais, which is why he sometimes used the initial "H." in his name.
Becoming a Priest
In 1900, Azarías Pallais began studying to become a priest at the San Ramon seminary. A seminary is a special school where people learn about religion and prepare for religious service.
In 1905, when he was 20, the President of Nicaragua, José Santos Zelaya, made many religious leaders leave the country. Pallais was among them. He moved to Paris, France, and continued his studies at the Saint-Sulpice seminary.
He became a Roman Catholic priest in 1908. He also studied at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. There, he earned a PhD in theology, which means he became an expert in religious studies.
In 1911, he returned to his hometown of León, Nicaragua. However, his way of preaching caused some disagreement with the local religious leaders. For a short time, he was not allowed to perform his duties as a priest. Luckily, this serious decision was later reversed by Monsignor Pereira that same year.
A Famous Writer
Pallais lived in León until 1940. During this time, he became one of the most popular poets in Nicaragua, second only to Rubén Darío. He was part of the "Modernist" movement in literature. This movement brought new and exciting ways of writing poetry in the Spanish-speaking world.
Some of his early poetry books include:
- A la sombra del agua (In the shadow of the water) (1917)
- Espumas y Estrellas (Foam and stars) (1919)
- Caminos (Paths) (1921)
In 1923, Pallais gave a speech called Socialist Words. In this speech, he talked about important social problems of the time from a Christian point of view. Later, in 1927, he published The Book of Evangelical Words. He also worked with other new and exciting writers like Pablo Antonio Cuadra and José Coronel Urtecho.
His most important poetry book, Bello Tono Menor (Beautiful Minor Tone), was published in 1928. It became famous around the world. In 1929, he was invited to join the Nicaraguan Literary Academy, which is a great honor for a writer.
From 1930 to 1936, Pallais faced some difficult times. He wrote a series of comments called Glosas, which were published in newspapers. These writings shared his thoughts on the government.
When Anastasio Somoza García became a powerful leader, Pallais first supported him. But later, they had a disagreement, and Pallais lost some of his special privileges. In 1940, he was assigned to be a simple parish priest in the port town of Corinto. This town was about 75 miles north of the capital, Managua.
He stayed in Corinto until he passed away. He worked very hard as a preacher and helped many poor people. Because of this, he was greatly admired by the local community. His last book of poetry, Piraterias (Piracies), was published in 1951.
After he died, Azarías Pallais was recognized as one of Nicaragua's "Three Great Ones" in poetry. The other two famous poets were Alfonso Cortés and Salomón de la Selva.
See also
In Spanish: Azarías H. Pallais para niños
