As time goes by, sometimes without realizing it, we let certain legacies fade away in time, and thus we forget their mentors.
Everything has a beginning and only from that starting point can it evolve. But this “initial leap” usually involves enormous effort and dedication from those who conceived, planned and implemented it for the first time.
It’s like everything in life, the difficult part is having ideas and good ideas, then “you just have to” maintain the momentum and progress. But this path that is followed should not distort the initial concept that was at the “genesis of creation” of a given event.
Unfortunately, there are many cases in which those who assume responsibility for a certain event take it as their own, and in the name of evolution, completely adulterate the initial concept. This is not evolving, it is creating a new event, but taking advantage of the impact and scope that the initial idea gained.
But there are also others in which all these principles are maintained, and legacies are honored. With evolution usually comes greater size and consequently responsibility also increases, like the event I’m going to talk about below.
The 26th National Motorcyclist Day was celebrated on April 7, 2024. Do the new generations of Motorcyclists know how this event was born? I’ve searched countless places and haven’t found the History of National Motorcyclist Day.
I think it would be up to the Portuguese Motorcycle Federation to have something on its website alluding to a National Celebration, organized under its aegis.
Therefore, fewer and fewer people know that there was a Motorcyclist Priest, with his Yamaha Diversion 900, called Zé Fernando, a native of Aldeia de Joanes, Fundão who was a parish priest in Vila do Bispo, District of Faro. One day, on the occasion of the Os Corvos de São Vicente Motorcycle Club Meeting, he suggested bringing the motorcycles to the Vila do Bispo churchyard and holding a religious celebration (mass) in honor of those who died on the road and for the protection of everyone.
It was with some initial reluctance that the population welcomed this idea, but everything went so smoothly that in the following years, the entire population joined the event.
This was the genesis of the National Motorcyclist Day celebrations. It was thus that in 1997, in the church of the Jerónimos Monastery, National Motorcyclist Day was celebrated for the first time. There were more than 15,000 of us, only around 1,000 of whom were able to enter the Church and at the end, Father Zé Fernando walked through the streets and gardens in front of the Monastery, where we had parked our motorbikes, on top of a yellow VW beetle, convertible, to proceed with the blessing of motorcycles and helmets. UNFORGETTABLE!
For three years he maintained, on Radio Jornal do Fundão, a weekly radio program entitled “Motorcyclist chronicle”, and in 1997 he received the Motorcycle Merit Diploma.
In 2002, he arranged for the celebrations to take place in Fátima, with motorbikes entering the venue. It was a unique moment, as there were tens of thousands of motorbikes entering the venue’s gate. The rule was that engines were prohibited from running under any circumstances and, as a sign of recognition and respect, I didn’t hear anything during the entire event, until we were removed from the site. My motorcycle at the time was a BMW K1200 LT and, as I was one of the first to enter, after descending the gate, the swing was not enough to move forward to where it should have been, and I alone would in no way be able to push that “heavy animal”. So, not only with me, but with everyone else in the same circumstances, there was always a group of people available to give the necessary push. The example of mutual assistance.
José Fernando reconciled his priesthood with his love for motorbikes, and on April 17, 2011, in Coimbra (National Motorcyclist Day), he celebrated a last mass to bless the motorbikes and helmets. After extensive work with the Patriarchate, he designated the Archangel St. Raphael as Patron Saint of Bikers.
He died with cancer in March 2013.
This was the legacy left by the late Father Zé Fernando, which we should never forget, especially when at the end he said goodbye to us, saying:
“Brother bikers, go in peace and don’t forget, until 120 God protects you. Above 120, God welcomes you. Good curves, God willing.”
Believers or not, the symbolism of the words is unavoidable.
Enjoy your ride.
