Bishop António Luciano dos Santos Costa

António Luciano dos Santos Costa was born on March 26, 1952, in Corgas, within the civil parish and ecclesiastical parish of Sandomil, in the municipality of Seia and the District and Diocese of Guarda. The eldest of seven siblings, he attended the Dr. Ângelo da Fonseca Nursing School in Coimbra and worked as a nurse at the University Hospitals (HUC). After completing his military service in Mozambique, he resumed his duties at the same hospital while finishing his nursing training. He began his path toward priestly formation at ISET (Coimbra) at the age of 28, continuing his studies at the Seminary of Guarda. He was ordained a deacon on December 8, 1984, and a priest on June 29, 1985, at the Cathedral of Guarda. In 1987, he went to Rome to study Moral Theology at the Alphonsian Academy. He joined the community of the Pontifical Portuguese College and completed his degree with a dissertation on the thought and work of Bernard Häring: "Being Free in Christ: A Responsible Project for Man." He also undertook studies in Bioethics at the Bioethics Center of the Faculty of Medicine at Santa Maria Hospital. In October 1989, he began teaching Moral Theology at the Major Seminary of Guarda and Professional Deontology and Ethics at the Nursing School, roles he held until the 2011 academic year. As part of the Major Seminary's formation team, he served as spiritual director and was responsible for the Vocations Secretariat and the Pre-Seminary program; he also collaborated with the prison chaplaincy and taught Catholic Moral and Religious Education at the Diocesan College of São José. Furthermore, he taught Moral Theology at the Higher Institute of Theology of Beiras and Douro (based in Viseu) and taught Church Social Doctrine, Ethics, and Bioethics at the Viseu campus of the Catholic University of Portugal. He served as chaplain to the Polytechnic Institute of Guarda and was the vice-postulator for the Cause of Beatification and Canonization of the Venerable Servant of God João de Oliveira Matos, who had been an auxiliary bishop of Guarda. Appointed judge of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal for the Causes of Beatification and Canonization of the Venerable Servants of God Monsignor Joaquim Alves Brás and Blessed Rita Amada de Jesus, he also served as director of the diocesan Department of Missions. From January 1991 onwards, he served as parish priest for several parishes—first in the archpresbyterate of Guarda and later in that of Covilhã, where he established a chaplaincy at the University of Beira Interior. In September 2009, he was appointed Coordinating Chaplain of the Guarda Hospital; in 2010, Episcopal Vicar for the Clergy and director of the Diocesan Priests' Residence in Guarda; and in 2012, a canon of the Cathedral of Guarda. He was appointed Bishop of Viseu on May 3, 2018, with his episcopal ordination taking place on June 17 at the Cathedral of Guarda. His solemn entry into the Diocese of Viseu occurred on July 22, following his formal taking of office before the College of Consultors the previous day.