Bishop of Eunápolis
Dom José Edson Santana Oliveira was born in Duas Serras, Antas, Bahia, on November 3, 1952. He was the son of José Henrique Oliveira and Iracema Santana Oliveira. He completed his primary and secondary education in Duas Serras, Bahia; at the Sagrado Coração (Marist) school in Senhor do Bonfim, Bahia; and at the Educandário Nossa Senhora das Graças in Tucano, Bahia. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Theology from the Institute of Theology at the Catholic University of Salvador (Bahia) and a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy, with a teaching license in Psychology and History, from the Salesian Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences, and Letters in Lorena, São Paulo. He was ordained a deacon on December 11, 1977, at Santana Cathedral in Feira de Santana, Bahia, and a priest on January 18, 1978, at the Church of Our Lady of the Conception (Nossa Senhora da Conceição) in Antas, Bahia. He received the title of Monsignor on September 10, 1988, and on June 12, 1996, was appointed by Saint John Paul II as the first Bishop of the Diocese of Eunápolis, Bahia. His episcopal ordination took place on September 8, 1996, in Feira de Santana, Bahia, and his installation in the Diocese of Eunápolis occurred on October 12, 1996. He served as *Vigário Ecônomo* (parish administrator) of Conceição do Jacuípe, Bahia, and simultaneously of Amélia Rodrigues, Bahia, later becoming the parish priest; he was the founder and director of the Dom Silvério Albuquerque Parish School in Conceição do Jacuípe, Bahia, and Spiritual Director of the ECC (Couples' Encounter with Christ) for the NE3 Regional area. He supported the construction of the Jesus Amparado Daycare Center in Itapebi, Bahia, and the Cruz de Malta Daycare Center in Vera Cruz, Porto Seguro, Bahia; he is the author of the first prayer book in the Chibe Romani language—*Ron Calon*. He is honored by Bill No. 27/2001 of the Conceição do Jacuípe City Council, which named a street "Dom José Edson Santana Oliveira" in the Baldez neighborhood, and by the Dom José Edson Santana Oliveira Municipal School in Eunápolis, established by Municipal Decree No. 2,381 on July 17, 2007. National Alliance of Young Men's Christian Associations of Portugal.