José Ribeiro da Fonseca

José Ribeiro da Fonseca Figueiredo e Sousa (3 December 1690 – 16 June 1752), also known by his religious name José Maria da Fonseca e Évora, was a Portuguese Franciscan who served as an accomplished diplomat of King John V in Rome and, later, Bishop of Porto.

Life José Ribeiro da Fonseca Figueiredo e Sousa was born on 3 December 1690, in the city of Évora, the son of Manuel Ribeiro da Fonseca Figueiredo (who had served the Habsburgs as a cavalry officer in Milan and Flanders), and his wife, Ana Maria Barroso da Gama Michão. He had a sister, named Mariana Ribeiro da Fonseca Figueiredo. He first earned a Artium Magister degree from the University of Évora and, from 1710, studied Canon law at the University of Coimbra.

Once in Italy, he made solemn vows at the Convent of San Bernardino di Orte and made his religious profession and was received into the Franciscan Order in the Convent of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli in Rome, 8 December 1712, taking the name José Maria da Fonseca e Évora. and, in 1732, is granted the honorific title of Minister General. As Minister General, he was untiring in his efforts to restore discipline; and displayed prudence, tact, and executive ability. In 1740 he founded the large library in the old convent of Ara Coeli (the Biblioteca Eborense), and under his direction and patronage, the Annales Minorum of Luke Wadding were published in Rome in seventeen volumes, between the years 1731 and 1741.

From 1728, Fonseca e Évora assumed the duties of King John V's chargé d'affaires. Two years later he is made ambassador: in 1731, he is appointed resident minister and on 1 August 1733, minister plenipotentiary. Fonseca e Évora was instrumental in the normalisation of diplomatic relations between Portugal and the Holy See following the Pope's refusal to elevate Vincenzo Bichi, Apostolic Nuncio to Portugal, to the cardinalate.

Fonseca several times declined the episcopal dignity (namely the bishoprics of Osimo, Tivoli, and Assisi ), but finally accepted (1741) the See of Porto, to which he was nominated by John V of Portugal.

He died on 16 June 1752 in Porto, and was buried the following day underneath the main altar of Porto Cathedral. The Franciscans in Portugal held a solemn funeral Mass at the Convent of São Francisco da Cidade, in Lisbon, on 1 September, with a eulogy delivered by Francisco Xavier de Santa Teresa, which was published the following year. After his death, many of his possessions were scattered and auctioned off to pay his creditors.