At the end of secondary school Teófilo hoped for future prospects, even informing his father of his intention to leave São Miguel and travel to America for a professional career (likely as a typographer or merchant).

It was a work that borrowed directly for its base the themes from Victor Hugo's La Légende des siècles, and captured in verse all the essential classicism of Judaism and Christianity.

Castilho, and his protégé Manuel Pinheiro Chagas were captivated by the classic prose of Visão (English: Vision) and congratulated in public Braga's work.

Generally, Castilho's conservative Lisbon admirers criticized severely many of the personalities with dissident tendencies, due to considerations both artistic and political.

Castilho and his prelates decided to begin a philosophical battle, without quarter, against the two iconoclasts, "that they considered exponents of a School at Coimbra of depraved tastes and highly harmful.

This was the beginning of the Questão Coimbrã Movement, an impassioned period that involved many Portuguese literary writers, that included many critical texts and apologies.

Teófolio had recalled that one time, in Oporto, at the home of the librarian Moré he had met Camilo Castelo Branco, who had extended his hand in friendship, but Braga had "turned his back".

Their life together would be tragic, marked by the premature deaths of their children: Joaquim, just after his birth (1869), Teófilo, at 13 (1886) and in March of the next year, Maria da Graça, at 16 (1887).

[5] His political affiliations made it difficult to obtain a professorship at the Academia Politécnica do Porto (English: Polytechnic Academy of Oporto), as well as the Faculty of Law in Coimbra.

Teófilo Braga had to wait a year, in 1872 (when he obtained his law degree), in order to succeed in his application to a position as a full professor in modern literature, in a memorable public competition.

He was the superior choice of the presiding judge of the committee, rather than his rival Manuel Pinheiro Chagas and Luciano Cordeiro, who were endorsed by semi-official patrons.

Teófilo aspired to be a systematic thinker; a theorist based on evidence which permitted an intrepid and dogmatic interpretation of Man, world and life.

This positivist spirit would guide him between 1872 and 1877, under the influence of Joaquim Duarte Moreira de Sousa a professor of Mathematics in Castelo Branco, with whom he regularly had conversations.

While still professor of Letters and research fellow, Teófilo Braga was studious and unrested, yet he continued to give all his attention to his family (showering on them gifts from his poor remuneration).

On some occasions he was considered a plagiarist; Braga read profusely and was not too careful while editing his analyses, omitting citations and mentioning unreferenced ideas or the theories of others.

José Relvas, another contemporary, was another person who dismissed his contributions; he noted that the prestige he gained was not justified, and that only those who didn't read his published works would admire him.

These propaganda pieces did not mean an end to his other works; in addition to participating in numerous comedies, festivals, clubs and republican associations, he was one of the personalities, in partnership with Ramalho Ortigão, to coordinate the fesitivities to mark the third centenary of the death of Luís Vaz de Camões, the epic Portuguese writer,(10 June 1880).

He participated in the political barricades during the 31 January 1891 revolt in Porto, added to the list of members of the Republican Party and worked in partnership with Francisco Homem Cristo.

Teófilo and Homen Cristo attempted to win the sympathy of the army, but were largely unsuccessful, due partly to the romantic militaristic ideals of many of the soldiers.

His final home, was on the second-floor of 70 Rua de Santa Gertrudes à Estrela, in Lisbon, and his neighbor usually accompanied him for breakfast or lunch.

As for his literary career, one can find books by Braga concerning the history of literature, on ethnography (mainly his search for popular stories and traditional songs), poetry, fiction, and philosophy.