- Avelar Brandão Vilela
infobox cardinalstyles
cardinal name=Avelar Cardinal Brandão Vilela
dipstyle=His Eminence
offstyle=Your Eminence
See=São Salvador da Bahia |Avelar Cardinal Brandão Vilela (
June 13 ,1912 —December 19 ,1986 ) was aBrazil ianprelate of theRoman Catholic Church . He served as Archbishop of São Salvador da Bahia from 1971 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1973.Biography
Avelar Brandão Vilela was born in Viçosa, and studied at the seminaries in
Maceió and inOlinda . He was ordained to the priesthood onOctober 27 ,1935 . He then served as aprofessor and spiritual advisor of the seminary of Aracajú,secretary of theDiocese of Aracajú, and diocesanchaplain of theCatholic Action .On
June 13 ,1946 , his thirty-fourth birthday, Vilela was appointed Bishop ofPetrolina byPope Pius XII . He received his episcopal consecration on the followingOctober 27 from BishopJosé Gomes da Silva , with BishopAdalberto Accioli Sobral and ArchbishopMário de Miranda Villas-Boas serving as co-consecrators. Vilela was later promoted to Archbishop ofTeresina onNovember 5 ,1955 , and attended theSecond Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965. Serving asPresident of theLatin American Episcopal Conference from 1966 to 1972, he was named Archbishop of São Salvador da Bahia onMarch 25 ,1971 .Pope Paul VI created him Cardinal Priest of "Ss. Bonifacio ed Alessio" in theconsistory ofMarch 5 ,1973 . Vilela was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the conclaves of August and October 1978, which selected Popes John Paul I and John Paul II respectively. He earned the nickname of the "Great Conciliator" for his ability to reach both progressives and conservatives in the Brazilian Church [New York Times. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE6D91539F932A15751C1A960948260 Cardinal Brandao Vilela Dies; Head of the Brazilian Church]December 21 ,1986 ] , and was given the title of Primate ofBrazil when his archdiocese was raised to that rank onOctober 25 ,1980 .The Cardinal died from
stomach cancer [Ibid.] in São Salvador, at age 74. He is buried at the metropolitan cathedral of São Salvador da Bahia.References
Trivia
*The Cardinal was the brother of Senator Teotonio Vilela (d. 1983)
External links
* [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios-v.htm#Vilela Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church]
* [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bbrav.html Catholic-Hierarchy]
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