He studied Latin and Rhetoric at the College of Saint Anthony the Great (Colégio de Santo Antão), an important Jesuit-run educational institution in Lisbon.

Couto arrived in Lisbon on board the Santa Clara in April 1570, only to discover that the port was closed due to plague.

Upon receiving permission from the King of Portugal (who he met in Almeirim), the ship docked in Tejo.

After Couto died, his other works were in the hands of his brother-in-law, the priest Deodato da Trindade.

Discursos oficiais proferidos na Câmara de Goa, edited by Maria Augusta Lima Cruz, Nuno Vila-Santa and Rui Manuel Loureiro, Portimão, Arandis/ISMAT, 2016.