Big disappointment in Beja, Portugal
By Manuel Luciano da Silva, Medical Doctor

We were out of  luck because we arrived in Beja  on a Monday and the Museum was closed to the public.  But we made a promise to ourselves that this year, 2004, we will insist on the  visiting   that  Museum. We finally made it on Friday, May 28^th.  We were very well received by the receptionist from whom we asked to speak with the Director.  She graciously attended our request and in a few minutes the Director, Dr. José Carlos Oliveira, was with us to answer our questions.  Quickly I explained to him that wanted  to see the mausoleum of Dom Fernando and if there was any possibility, in the future, to get samples of his bones for the  study  his DNA.  DNA is the sigla of the  desoxyribonocleic acid, which is  the genetic unit of all animals and plants. 

António Brahama, assistant and Dr. José Carlos Oliveira, Director 

Sadly, Dr. José Carlos Oliveira, told us that, “unfortunately, the mausoleum that is now  in front of us is empty, does  not have any  bones belonging to Dom Fernando, Duke of Beja, neither of his son Diogo! “ “It must have been the French soldiers who during the Napoleonic  invasion of Portugal,  sacked  the tombs,  looking for silver and gold,  destroying  not only  the tomb of Dom Fernando but also his wife's Dona  Brites.”   

We were very sadden by  this frank information  given to us by the Director and became  very much disappointed to find out that the  tombs were indeed empty of the  bones. This Convent that is now  used as the Museum of Beja, was built in 1459, by Dom Fernando and his wife Dona Brites, and was given the royal name of Monastery of Our Lady of Conception and received royal protection and became one of most rich and sumptuous of the  Portuguese kingdom.

Because at the present time studies on DNA are being conduct in Spain and other countries on the samples of bones  obtained from  the tombs in the Cathedral of Seville, Spain, belonging to  the navigator Cristóvão Colon, his son Fernando Colon and his brother Diogo Colon.  

Cristóvão Colon died in Valladolid, Spain, on May 20th of 1506. In 1509 his remains were transported to Seville, but in 1544 were shipped to the Cathedral of San Domingos, a  Spanish Colony in Central America, to conform with the wishes that  the navigator expressed on his  will. However,  in 1795 the Spanish were forced to leave San Domingos and the remains of Cristóvão Colon were moved to the nearest  Spanish colony at  the time: Havana, Cuba. Finally, in 1898, after Cuba became independent, the bones belonging to the navigator were transported once again to the Cathedral of Seville, Spain, were they have been guarded in a very ornamental tomb!

But the things became complicated when,  in 1877, the Dominicans, while reconstructing their Cathedral found a small box with bones labeled “Admiral Cristovão Colon”.  Therefore,  today we can consider that the famous navigator has two burials: one in Seville, Spain and the other in San Domingos, Central America!

To solve this mystery and to find out which bones are the true ones  belonging to the navigator, the Laboratory of Genetic Identification at the University of  Granada, Spain, headed by the Medical Doctor,  José Lorente Acosta, decided to form various  teams in different  countries to study the DNA on the samples of the bones extracted from the mausoleums  in the Cathedral of Seville belonging to Cristóvão Colon, his son Fernando Colon and his brother Diogo Colon. The comparison of DNA between both brothers, Cristovão and Diogo, there is, between both Y-chromosomes of  each each other,  will be  the unique  scientific technique  to confirm or deny  definitively if the bones studied, indeed,  belong to the navigator Cristóvão Colon! 

The Physician, Lorente Acosta, of the University of Granada, together with Dr. Marcial Castro Sánchez of the University of Seville,  in order for the DNA studies to be  totally independent and impartial,  they formed various teams in various countries.  They sent samples of the bones to:  Mark Stoneking, Leipzig, Germany;  Olga Rickards, Roma, Italy; Bruce Dudowle, Quanto, Virgínia; Angel Carracedo, Santiago, Spain; e Daniel Turbon, Barcelona, Spain.   

It is expected that this year, even before October 12, 2004,  that the results of all these scientists will be announced to the world  and show if indeed these three men have the same DNA genetic units of the same family!

Several months ago, Dr. Lorente Acosta and Dr. Marcial Sánchez asked me  to send  them from America, copies of my writings concerning   my researches of the Portuguese nationality of Cristovão Colon,  and they have acknowledged with satisfaction receiving my gift. 

The genealogy and the DNA

Because the study of DNA is  today the most scientific technique for the human identification and because the genealogical studies suggest the possibility of Duke of Beja, Dom Fernando,  to be the biological father of Cristóvão Colon, his bones would be  terribly important  to prove if indeed the First  Duke of Beja was the navigator's  father and prove also that his nationality was Portuguese!   But because his tomb is empty, so  almost empty are our hopes, and therefore we have to search other lines of family genetics…

Outside of the entrance of the same museum in Beja,  there is a beautiful statue  of the Queen Leonor, the founder of the Misericórdias (Charities) in Portugal, and  she was the wife of King John II.  This Queen was  the daughter of the Duke of Beja, Dom Fernando,  and his wife Dona Brites. Therefore she was half sister of Cristovão Colon. So I asked  the Director of the museum of Beja  where  the tomb of  Queen Leonor  is located and he gave us the answer. “In the Church of Madre de Deus, in Lisbon, where today is the Museum of the Azulejos” (or blue tiles). “And is her tomb intact?”  I asked. “ I believe so, he said”. Now I have  to find out for sure.  But if we cannot find out anything through the father's line, certainly we can search the line of the navigator's  biological mother, Isabel Gonçalves Zarco.

We have already started this search and we were also disappointed  because her father,  John Gonçalves Zarco – a Portuguese Jew from Tomar, Portugal – who discovered  the Island  of Madeira and became its Governor, built  his mausoleum, which existed in the Church of Santa Clara in Funchal, but we were already informed that it had been destroyed due to vandalism!!!

We are now left with only one  opportunity. To appeal to the Zarco Families – directed descendents of the João Gonçalves Zarco --  who  fortunately still exist today in Continental Portugal, Madeira and the Azores.   We have to discover where they live  today and ask them to give the scientists samples of their hair so the  study of  their DNA  can be done and then be compared with the DNA that is going to be announced to the world found in the bone samples of Cristóvão Colon, Fernando Colon and Diogo Colon!

Only using this scientific DNA technique can we find the truth if the navigator was or not Portuguese. We should not be afraid of facing the truth! Only with  DNA  approach can we find out the historical truth after 500 years!  The DNA studies also will confirm if the genealogical studies presented by various historians  are correct or  if they are false cabalas…

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