An eminent figure of Portuguese society in his day, he became politically active after the French invasion during the Peninsular War, and became one of the founders of the liberal regime.

[1] At age 14, he joined the Monastery of São Martinho de Tibães, mother house of the Benedictines in Portugal, due to his "gifts of organ and plainsong".

[3] In 1808, following the French invasion of Portugal, he was named part of the patriotic Junta that was established to administer the Minho region while the Council of Regency was not re-established in Lisbon.

When the absolutist Miguel I seized power in 1828, Saraiva once again retreated to monastic life, in the Convent of Serra de Ossa in the Alentejo, where he remained until the end of the Portuguese Civil War.

[3] In the aftermath of the civil war the liberal regime stripped many privileges away from the Church, and Saraiva had an important role in the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the Holy See.