| Resumo: | The small College of the "Irmandade da Lapa" (Lapa Fraternity), declared a Seminary by its founders, was established by a licence signed by Queen D. Maria I in 1792 and began its activities in 1800 with two subjects: Reading and Writing and Latin Grammar. The initial goal of the college was to pro¬vide free education for boys, sons of Fraternity Brothers, who showed talent and aptitude but had limited resources. Right from the start, however, the Seminary admitted boys from the more privileged social groups, who could afford to pay the registration fee, from the city, northern Portugal, and, in significant numbers, from Brazil. The College was primarily a boarding school, although it did admit a reduced number of day students. Apart from an ambitious programme in humanistic studies, the institution sought to provide its students with solid principles of citizenship, according to an ideal of respectful, responsible society and encouraged a sense of civic duty in keeping with Roman Christian traditions.
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