Basílio do Nascimento Martins (14 June 1950 – 30 October 2021) was the East Timorese Roman Catholic Bishop of

Baucau Baucau ( pt, Baucau, tet, Baukau) is the second-largest city in East Timor, after Dili, the capital, which lies to its west. Baucau has about 16,000 inhabitants, and is the capital of Baucau municipality, located in the eastern part of th ...

. He was born in

Suai Suai is a city in East Timor, in Suai Subdistrict. It has a population of 9,866 and is located to the southwest of Dili, the national capital. Suai is the capital of the Cova Lima District, which is in the southwest of the country. It is locat ...

, then

Portuguese Timor Portuguese Timor ( pt, Timor Português) was a colonial possession of Portugal that existed between 1702 and 1975. During most of this period, Portugal shared the island of Timor with the Dutch East Indies. The first Europeans to arrive in th ...

. He later moved to Portugal, where he was ordained as a priest in

Évora Évora ( , ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of 1307.08 km2. It is the historic capital of the Alentejo and serves as the seat of the Évora District. Due to its well-preserved old ...

, in 1977. He worked for 20 years in Portugal and France before returning home in 1994, which was at the time under

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

n occupation. He became apostolic administrator of the new Diocese of Baucau on 30 November 1996 and titular bishop on 6 January 1997. When

Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo SDB, commonly known as Carlos Belo or Ximenes Belo (born 3 February 1948) is an East Timorese prelate of the Catholic Church. He became a bishop in 1988 and served as the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of ...

retired, Nascimento became apostolic administrator of the

Diocese of Dili In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

, until the new Bishop of Dili,

Alberto Ricardo da Silva Alberto Ricardo da Silva (4 April 1943 – 2 April 2015) was the Roman Catholic bishop of Dili, East Timor. Early life He was born in Aileu, in East Timor when it was still a Portuguese colony. He studied in the minor seminary of Dili and was ...

, was installed on 6 March 2004. Nascimento then became the Bishop of Baucau. In October 1999, the President of the National Council of Timorese Resistance

Xanana Gusmão José Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmão (; born 20 June 1946) is an East Timorese politician. A former rebel, he was the third President of the independent East Timor, serving from 2002 to 2007. He then became its fourth prime minister, serving from ...

thanked Bishop Nascimento for the support of the Church in the struggle for independence. Concerned that the names of the thousands of lives lost during Indonesia's occupation of the country will be forgotten in the name of reconciliation with Indonesia, on 21 January 2006 he said that reconciliation with Jakarta without justice is meaningless. On 31 March 2018, Nascimento collapsed during Mass at St. Anthony's Cathedral in Baucau and was rushed to Dili National Hospital. He recovered and was discharged on 4 April 2018. He was the head of the East Timorese Bishops' conference. Bishop do Nascimento died from a heart attack on 30 October 2021, in the Guido Valadares National Hospital in

Dili Dili ( Portuguese/ Tetum: ''Díli'') is the capital, largest city of East Timor and the second largest city in Timor islands after Kupang (Indonesia). It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed i ...

. The President of East Timor

Francisco Guterres Francisco Guterres, popularly known as Lú-Olo (born 7 September 1954), is an East Timorese politician who served as president of East Timor from 20 May 2017 to 20 May 2022. He is also the president of the political party Fretilin, and he was ...

awarded Nascimento with the country's highest honour, the

Order of Timor-Leste The Order of Timor-Leste ( pt, Ordem de Timor-Leste) is the highest honour currently awarded by East Timor. Established in 2009, the order was created after the original honours granted by East Timor. It is of a more general and broader nature t ...

.''Catholic Weekly'', Australia, 14 November 2021

References

External links

Basílio do Nascimento at ''catholic-hierarchy.org''
1950 births 2021 deaths Roman Catholic bishops of Dili Roman Catholic bishops of Baucau East Timorese Roman Catholic bishops People from Cova Lima District East Timorese expatriates in Portugal 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in East Timor Recipients of the Order of Timor-Leste {{EastTimor-bio-stub