Lino Villachá became a symbol of resistance and courage among more than five thousand leprous who had been at São Julião. At the age of twelve he saw the bacillus of leprosy reach his family and together with his parents and three of his five siblings started to live in the confinement of the colony. There he grew up and promoted the integration among the interns by organizing sporting competitions and artistic events, standing out in his work as a teacher,  a school director and an assistant at the hospital administration.

His enchant was in the lucidity and creativity of his poems, chronicles and reports where he wrote about the routine of São Julião, while his body suffered the consequences of the illness attacks. He had his legs amputated and his movements limited alongside of forty years of living with leprosy. His atrophied hands did not hinder the act of writing with almost legible strokes, revealing his great sensibility.