Bishop of Jacarezinho
Bishop Antônio Braz Benevente, Bishop of Jacarezinho, was born on January 1, 1961, in Itápolis, in the Diocese of São Carlos and in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. After the minor seminary he studied philosophy at the major seminary of São Carlos and theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas, and he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Uberaba on December 7, 1985. He served as parish priest of Santo Antônio Parish in Planura from 1985 to 1991, of Santa Luzia Parish in Uberaba from 1991 to 1996, of São Geraldo Parish in Uberaba from 1996 to 1998, of Nossa Senhora do Carmo Parish in Frutal in 1998, and of São Benedito Parish in Uberaba from 2000. Alongside those charges he was professor of the history of Israel at the São José institute of theology, archdiocesan pastoral coordinator, administrator of the curia, chaplain to Pope John Paul II, and a member of the college of consultors and of the presbyteral and pastoral councils of the Archdiocese of Uberaba. On June 23, 2010, he was appointed Bishop of Jacarezinho. He received episcopal ordination on September 7, 2010, in the Marist diocesan gymnasium at Uberaba, with Aloísio Roque Oppermann as principal consecrator and Benedito de Ulhôa Vieira and Fernando José Penteado as co-consecrators. He took possession of the diocese as its seventh bishop on October 10, 2010. His episcopal motto is In Fortitudine Spiritus Tui, "In the strength of your Spirit."