António Joaquim de Medeiros

António Joaquim de Medeiros (; 15 October 1846 – 7 January 1897) was a Portuguese prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was born in Portugal, and ordained in 1871. By the mid-1870s he was working in Portuguese Macau, and in 1877 he travelled to Portuguese Timor to serve in the Catholic missions there. In 1882, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Goa, and in 1884 he was selected Bishop of Macau. He served in that position until his death in 1897.

Biography Early life and priesthood Medeiros was born on 15 October 1846 in the village of , Portugal, near the city of Chaves. He was the only son of Augusto Luís Medeiros and Teresa de Jesus Carneiro.

Medeiros was ordained a priest in 1871. Following ordination he became a professor at St. Joseph's Seminary in Macau. In 1873 he was appointed prefect and two years later, dean of the seminary. Also in 1875, he was appointed visitor of the Catholic missions in Portuguese Timor, and two years later rose to the position of vicar general.

Missionary work in Timor He arrived in Dili in 1877 with a team of nine Portuguese priests and one Chinese priest from Macau, all trained at the Seminary of Bonjardim in Portugal. He set out to evangelize the people and reform the mission. This was prompted by a visit Medeiros made to Timor two years earlier, in which he concernedly wrote to the Bishop of Macau, Manuel Bernardo de Sousa Enes, regarding the state of Timorese Christianity and social institutions, particularly the "primitive" and "immoral" state of marriage and the family.

Episcopacy On 29 August 1882, Pope Leo XIII appointed Medeiros Titular Bishop of Thermopylae and Auxiliary Bishop of Goa. His consecration took place on 15 August 1883, and was presided over by Archbishop António Sebastião Valente, Archbishop of Goa.

Death and legacy He died on 7 January 1897, in Lahane, a small town near the city of Dili, Portuguese Timor, at the age of 50. In 1997, on the 100th anniversary of Medeiros' death, former seminarians of the Diocese of Díli's Our Lady of Fatima Minor Seminary organized the Fundaçao Bispo de Medeiros (English: Bishop de Medeiros Foundation), the aim of which is to continue Medeiros' work to preserve Timorese culture and promote human resource development.

Episcopal lineage Cardinal Scipione Rebiba Cardinal Giulio Antonio Santorio (1566) Cardinal Girolamo Bernerio, OP (1586) Archbishop Galeazzo Sanvitale (1604) Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi (1621) Cardinal Luigi Caetani (1622) Cardinal Ulderico Carpegna (1630) Cardinal Paluzzo Paluzzi Altieri degli Albertoni (1666) Pope Benedict XIII (1675) Pope Benedict XIV (1724) Archbishop Enrico Enríquez (1743) Bishop Manuel Quintano Bonifaz (1749) Cardinal Buenaventura Córdoba Espinosa de la Cerda (1761) Cardinal Giuseppe Maria Pamphili (1773) Pope Pius VIII (1800) Bl. Pope Pius IX (1827) Cardinal Alessandro Franchi (1856) Archbishop Gaetano Aloisi Masella (1877) Archbishop António Sebastião Valente (1881) Bishop António Joaquim de Medeiros (1883)