João Mohana

João Miguel Mohana (15 June 1925 – 12 August 1995) was a Brazilian Roman Catholic priest, physician, and writer.

Biography

João Mohana was born in Bacabal, Maranhão, the son of Miguel and Anice Mohana, both Lebanese Maronite immigrants. He lived in the cities of Coroatá, Bacabal, and Viana until his late teens, when Mohana decided to move to São Luís in order to begin his secondary education. In the late 1940s, he went to study medicine at the Federal University of Bahia.

In 1952 he published his first book, the novel The Other Way, for which he received the Coelho Neto Prize from the Brazilian Academy of Letters. Although he was obliged to follow medicine, his great vocation was the priesthood and, in 1955, after his father's death, he entered the Seminary of Viamão, in Rio Grande do Sul, becoming a priest in 1960. In 1970 he was elected a member of the Academia Maranhense de Letras, occupying seat number 3.

In 1975, Father João Mohana founded the Authentic Christian University Youth (JUAC) movement, with the objective of forming leaders.

In São Luís, Maranhão, there is today the so-called João Mohana Collection, which the priest collected in his wanderings through the parishes of Maranhão and which is the most complete portrait of the region's sacred musical production in the last years of the 18th century and into the 19th century.

Works

Novels

• O Outro Caminho (1952)
• Maria da Tempestade (1966)

Theater

• Abraão & Sara (1968)
• Por Causa de Inês (1971)
• Inês e Pedro (1976)
• Casulo de Pedra (1979)
• Os Perseguidos (1979)
• O Marido de Conceição Saldanha (1979)

Apologetics

• O Mundo e Eu (1963)
• Amor e Responsabilidade (1967)
• Paz pela Oração (1973)
• Prepare Seus Filhos para o Futuro (1973)
• O Encontro (1976)
• Descubra o Valor do Terço (1979)
• Jesus Cristo Radiografado (1980)
• O Enviado (1981)
• Pobres e Ricos Perante Cristo no Brasil (1982)
• Escolhidos de Deus (1984)
• Diga Não ao Imperialismo Cultural (1985)
• Espírito Santo de Todos (1987)
• Ore Com os Grandes Orantes (1987)
• Espiritualidade e Teologia da Libertação (1987)
• O Cristão Desafiado (1991)
• Como Ser um Bom Pregador (1993)

Psychology

• Sofrer e Amar: Psicologia e Teologia do Sofrimento (1952; 1955)
• Padres e Bispos: Auto-Analisados (1967)
• Plenitude Humana (1977)
• Auto-Análise para o Êxito Profissional (1980)
• Liberte Seu Filho da Insegurança (1986)

Sexuality

• A Vida Sexual dos Solteiros e Casados (1962)
• Ajustamento Conjugal (1969)
• Céu e Carne no Casamento (1975)
• Não Basta Amar para Ser Feliz no Casamento (1980)
• Namoro É Isto (1983)
• Casar para Crescer (1984)

Musicology

• A Grande Música do Maranhão (1974)

References

• Bertaso, José Otávio (2012). A Globo da Rua da Praia. São Paulo: Editora Globo.
• Santos Neto, Manoel (2019). A Ressurreição do Padre: Perfil do Sacerdote que se Transformou em Grande Escritor no Brasil. São Luís: Engenho.