He was born in the parish of Itaparica, son of Francisco Borja Damásio and Maria Amália Clímaco de Sousa.

Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of Bahia, he was a member of the educational commissions of the wide-ranging reform of teaching, designed by Manuel Vitorino, whose proposals, which were too revolutionary for current conservatism, would cause the governor's removal.

In the troubled period that followed the Proclamation of the Republic, Bahia experienced moments when changes in the regime seemed to lead to a confrontation between the diverse and confused currents that manifested themselves – first against the new order and then, before its inevitability, favorable.

Despite this, there was no continuity solution among those who ruled the state at the time: it was up to the Legislative Assembly, still elected in the empire, by its president Augusto Guimarães, to take over the provisional government.

Already old and in fragile health, the marshal is only five months in charge of the position, which he passes to the vice governor – during all this time, Virgílio Damásio.