Bishop Evaldo Carvalho dos Santos

Evaldo Carvalho dos Santos is Bishop of Viana, Maranhão, Brazil. A native of Fortaleza-CE, Dom Evaldo Carvalho dos Santos was born on 09 March 1969. Son of Maria Elizabete Carvalho dos Santos and José Ferreira dos Santos, Dom Evaldo is the eighth of ten children. He entered the Congregation of the Mission in 1990, was admitted to the novitiate in Recife-PE in 1993, and made perpetual vows in 1995. He was ordained deacon at São Raimundo Nonato Parish in Belém do Pará in 1997. He studied philosophy and theology at the Regional Pastoral Institute in Belém-PA. He received a bachelor's degree in Social Service from the University of Amazonia, UNAMA, and specialized in Social Service, Public Policies, and Social Rights at the State University of Ceará, UECE. He was ordained priest in Fortaleza on 10 January 1998. Named bishop by the Holy Father Pope Francis on 20 February 2019, he received episcopal ordination in the Metropolitan Cathedral in Fortaleza-CE on 27 April 2019 and took canonical possession as 6th bishop of the diocese in Nossa Senhora da Conceição Cathedral in Viana-MA on 18 May 2019. His pastoral services included parish vicar at São José de Tucuruí Parish in 1998; missionary in Itaituba-PA in 1999; director of the seminary of the Province of Fortaleza, propaedeutic, philosophy, and theology, from 2000 to 2008; parish vicar at São Raimundo Parish and adviser to the CEBs in Belém; member of the board of the Conference of Religious of Brazil, CRB - Fortaleza nucleus, from 2000 to 2003; pastor of São Pedro e São Paulo Parish in Fortaleza in 2009 and from 2016 to 2018; spiritual director of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul in Fortaleza; ecclesiastical adviser for Social Pastorals, CEBs, and other bodies of the Archdiocese of Fortaleza; provincial superior of the Province of Fortaleza of the Congregation of the Mission from 2010 to 2016; parish vicar of Nossa Senhora dos Remédios Parish in Fortaleza from 2010 to 2013; pastor of Santo Antônio Parish in Quixeramobim from 2018 to 2019; and vicar forane in the Diocese of Quixadá from 2018 to 2019. His personal coat of arms is a quartered Portuguese shield. In the first quarter, gules (red), are the letters S and V in jalne (gold), respectively superimposed. In the next quarter of jalne, a river of blue is in the center of a green hill topped by a green palm tree. In the third quarter of jalne, there is a Marian monogram with a cross at the chief, flanked circularly by twelve stars, all blue. The last quarter of gules has a pelican of jalne. The shield rests on a trefoil cross of jalne and is surmounted by a green galero with red lining, with its tassels on each flank ending in six tassels arranged 1, 2, and 3, all green. Over the point of the cross is a silver scroll backed in red with the description: QUIA MISERICORDIAM. The shield as a whole represents the personal, vocational, and pastoral character of Dom Evaldo Carvalho dos Santos and the threefold episcopal mission: to sanctify, govern, and teach. The first field contains the letters S and V, whose symbolism refers to Saint Vincent, founder of the Congregation of the Mission, in which His Excellency's life was consecrated in service of the poor and the mission. The second field has a river and hill topped by a palm tree, representing fundamental characteristics of the diocesan region of Viana, the ground on which Dom Evaldo begins his episcopal ministry. In the lower part of the shield is a Marian monogram flanked by twelve stars, referring to Mary, Mother of Jesus and of the Church, under whose patronage his pastoral mission is placed. It also symbolizes the bishop's personal devotion, with Mary as patroness of the Congregation of the Mission and of the Diocese of Viana. The pelican in the last field symbolizes the gift of life and episcopal mission in favor of his flock in harmony with the essence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the pontificate of Pope Francis. The episcopal motto of Dom Evaldo Carvalho dos Santos inscribed on his coat of arms, Quia Misericordiam - I desire mercy - (Matthew 9, 13), represents the aegis on which the mission of a bishop is founded: offering Divine Mercy for the flock entrusted to his pastoral care.