“Picking Up a Pin for Love Can Save a Soul”

Testimony on the teaching of Maria Helena da Rocha Pereira

Abstract

This statement is made as a tribute to the Portuguese Hellenist Maria Helena da Rocha Pereira. It is a free account, by way of testimony, on the method of guidance of Professor Rocha Pereira (* Cedofeita, Porto, September 3, 1925 † Porto, April 10, 2017), the first woman to graduate with a PhD from the University of Coimbra, whose faculty was traditionally made up of men. From reflection and retrospective analysis of hundreds of letters exchanged, we propose that her method towards us could be summed up in the following phrase “ramasser une épingle par amour peut sauver une âme”. The search for perfection in fulfilling the task of guiding students, right from the details, was a practice of Professor Rocha Pereira. Her method was applied to the author of this text, in the stages of master’s degree, doctorate and even, in 2006, post-doctorate, in which the scholar worked in partnership with Professor Filomena Hirata (USP).