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ANTONIO JOSE FERREIRA VICOSO, BISHOP OF MARIANA - 7 JULY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JULY

Saints celebrated on the 7th of July

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VENERABLE ANTONIO JOSE FERREIRA VICOSO, BISHOP OF MARIANA

Venerable Antonio Vicoso

Antonio Jose Ferreira Vicoso (Antônio José Ferreira Viçoso) was born on May 13, 1787, in Peniche in Portugal. He was ordained a priest of the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians) in Lisbon on March 7, 1818. In 1819, the Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission, responding to a request from Bishop João VI for priests to Brazil, sent the young Father Vicoso and his confrere, Father Leandro Rabelo de Castro. Soon engaged in the education of the youth, Fr Vicoso spent 15 years in Jacuecanga, near Angra dos Reis. On his return to Minas (1837), he was elected Superior of the Congregation of the Mission in Brazil. Ordained bishop in the monastery of São Bento in Rio de Janeiro in 1844, he administered the bishopric of Mariana for 29 years with great pastoral zeal: he was a devoted father of the poor and orphans, protector of slaves, selfless missionary, reformer of the clergy, defender of the rights of the Church and exemplary devotee of the Virgin Mary.

In 1854 Bishop Vicoso sent a letter to Pope Pius IX after the latter proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in which he praised the pope for this move. He admired Saint Anthony of Lisbon and Saint Teresa of Avila while striving to base his episcopal mission on the example of Saint Alphonsus Maria Liguori. The bishop created the parish of São Sebastião de São Gotardo on July 19, 1872.

The 7th bishop of Mariana was a great advocate for raising awareness among the people of Minas Gerais against slavery, and the burning and the preservation of the forests. He established the first female school in Minas Gerais in 1849. When he died in Cartuxa, in Mariana, on July 7, 1875, Bishop Vicoso was already considered a saint by the people, who loved him dearly.

Pope Francis confirmed on July 8, 2014 that Bishop Viçoso had lived a life of heroic virtue and declared him venerable. 

Sources: https://congregatiomissionis.org/en/postulazione/msgr-antonio-ferreira-vicoso-c-m-venerable/ - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant%C3%B4nio_Ferreira_Vi%C3%A7oso - https://famvin.org/en/2025/07/17/bishop-antonio-ferreira-vicoso-c-m-an-inspiring-example-of-vincentian-vocation-and-missionary-commitment/

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