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Alexandre José Maria dos Santos

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His Eminence
Alexandre José Maria dos Santos
O.F.M.
Archbishop Emeritus of Maputo
Church Roman Catholic Church
Archdiocese Maputo
See Maputo
Appointed 18 September 1976[1]
Retired 22 February 2003
Predecessor Custódio Alvim Pereira
Successor Francisco Chimoio
Other post Cardinal-Priest of San Frumenzio ai Prati Fiscali (1988–2021)
Previous post Archbishop of Laurençco Marques (1974–76)[2]
Orders
Ordination 25 June 1953
by Manuel Gonçalves Cerejeira
Consecration 9 March 1975
by Agnelo Rossi
Created cardinal 28 June 1988
by Pope John Paul II
Rank Cardinal-Priest
Personal details
Born Alexandre José Maria dos Santos
18 March 1924
Zavala, Mozambique
Died 29 September 2021 (aged 97)
Maputo, Mozambique
Motto Servir e não ser servido ("To serve, not to be served")

Alexandre José Maria dos Santos (18 March 1924 – 29 September 2021) was a Mozambican Roman Catholic cardinal. He was the first native cardinal of Mozambique.

Ecclesiastical career

Dos Santos was born in Zavala, Mozambique. He studied in Nyasaland and Lisbon before being ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1953, becoming the first black Mozambican to receive the distinction.[3] In 1973 he became the first African to run a seminary in Mozambique.[4] He was archbishop of Maputo, between 1975 and 2003. On 26 June 1988, he was created a cardinal by Pope John Paul II, and given the titular church of San Frumenzio ai Prati Fiscali.[5] He was instrumental in the peace process surrounding the end of the Mozambican Civil War.[3] He did not participate in the conclaves of 2005 and 2013, because he was over the age limit by then.

References

  1. Back to citation As the Archbishop of Maputo after it was renamed.
  2. Back to citation The Archdiocese became the Maputo archdiocese but it held as a different position.
  3. Back to citation occurrence 3.0 Back to citation occurrence 3.1 Darch, Colin (2018). Historical Dictionary of Mozambique. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 352. ISBN 978-1-5381-1135-2. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  4. Back to citation Morier-Genoud, Éric (2019). Catholicism and the Making of Politics in Central Mozambique, 1940-1986. Boydell & Brewer. p. 89. ISBN 978-1-58046-941-8. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  5. Back to citation Cardinal Title S. Frumenzio ai Prati Fiscali GCatholic.org