The Pharmaceutical Montepio was one of the first mutual associations in Portugal. Created by the Lusitanian Pharmaceutical Society in September 1838, it played an important role in helping the pharmacist’s widows and orphan children.

 

It functioned as follows: "Art. 40 The members who contribute regularly to this establishment for six consecutive years (...) will acquire for themselves, and after their death, to their widows, their children and their children by marriage, the right to receive an annual contribution paid in parts and according to the deposit situation, and that contribution will become effective:

 

§1st To those who will fall into poverty, or due to their advanced age or diseases, find themselves unable to provide for their living.

§2nd For the widows who, after the death of their husbands, are left with no means of livelihood and that during their widowhood. In case of having one or more underage children, they will receive, if they are their legal guardians, an additional amount proportional to the number of children (...)

§3rd For underage children who have lost both parents and found themselves in extreme conditions (...)"

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