Saint Nuño de Santa Maria Álvares Pereira was a Portuguese general, born Nuno Álvares Pereira on 24 June 1360 in Cernache do Bonjardim. He was the illegitimate son of Dom Álvaro Gonçalves Pereira, prior of Crato, and Iria Gonçalves do Carvalhal. About a year after his birth a royal decree legitimised him, so he received a knightly education. At 16 he married Leonor de Alvim, a wealthy young widow. When King Ferdinand I died in 1383, the nobles backed John, Master of Aviz, against the claim of Beatrice, wife of King John I of Castile. After the victory at Atoleiros in April 1384, John of Aviz named Nuno constable of Portugal and count of Ourém. On 14 August 1385 at Aljubarrota he led 6,500 volunteers to victory over a Castilian force of more than 30,000.
After the death of his wife, he became a Carmelite friar (he joined the Order in 1423) at the Carmo Convent which he had founded in fulfilment of a vow, and took the name of Friar Nuno of Saint Mary (Portuguese: Frei Nuno de Santa Maria). There he lived until his death on 1 November 1431. He was noted for his prayer, his practice of penance and his filial devotion to the Mother of God. Nuno suffered from debilitating arthritis.
During the last year of his life, King John I went to visit and embrace him for the last time. He wept for he considered Nuno Álvares Pereira his closest friend, the man who had put him on the throne and saved his country's independence.
Nuno Álvares Pereira's tomb was lost in the famous 1755 Lisbon earthquake. His epitaph read:
"Here lies that famous Nuno, the Constable, founder of the House of Bragança, excellent general, blessed monk, who during his life on earth so ardently desired the Kingdom of Heaven that after his death, he merited the eternal company of the Saints. His worldly honors were countless, but he turned his back on them. He was a great Prince, but he made himself a humble monk. He founded, built and endowed this church in which his body rests."