The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Natal ( la, Archidioecesis Natalensis) is an

archdiocese 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 ...

located in the city of

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

History

* December 29, 1909: Established as the Diocese of Natal from the Diocese of Paraíba * February 16, 1952: Promoted as the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Natal

Bishops

Ordinaries, in reverse chronological order

* Arch

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

s of Natal (Roman rite), below ** Archbishop Jaime Vieira Rocha (since 2011.12.21) ** Archbishop Matias Patrício de Macêdo (2003.11.26 – 2011.12.21) ** Archbishop Heitor de Araújo Sales (1993.10.27 – 2003.11.26) ** Archbishop

Alair Vilar Fernandes de Melo Alair is a town in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district of the Indian state of Telangana. It is a municipality and one of the constituencies in the Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district. It is located in Alair mandal of Bhongir revenue division. Alair is known f ...

(1988.04.06 – 1993.10.27) ** Archbishop

Nivaldo Monte Nivaldo may refer to: * Nivaldo (name) * Nivaldo (footballer, born 1974), born ''José Nivaldo Martins Constante'', Brazilian football goalkeeper * Nivaldo (footballer, born 1975), born ''Nivaldo Lourenço da Silva'', Brazilian football midfiel ...

(1967.09.06 – 1988.04.06) ** Archbishop

Marcolino Esmeraldo de Souza Dantas Marcolino Neto Silva Lima de Sá (born 17 May 1996), commonly known as Marcolino or Neto Marcolino, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfiel ...

(1952.02.16 – 1967.04.08) * Bishops of Natal (Roman Rite), below ** Bishop Marcolino Esmeraldo de Souza Dantas (later Archbishop) (1929.03.01 – 1952.02.16) ** Bishop José Pereira Alves (1922.10.27 – 1928.01.27) ** Bishop

Antônio dos Santos Cabral Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

(1917.09.01 – 1921.11.21), appointed Bishop of Belo Horizonte; future Archbishop ** Bishop

Joaquim Antônio d’Almeida Joaquim is the Portuguese and Catalan version of Joachim and may refer to: * Alberto Joaquim Chipande, politician * Eduardo Joaquim Mulémbwè, politician * Joaquim Agostinho (1943–1984), Portuguese professional bicycle racer * Joaquim Amat ...

(1910.10.23 – 1915.06.14)

Auxiliary bishops

Eugênio de Araújo Sales Eugênio, sometimes Eugénio, is a Portuguese masculine given name equivalent to Spanish Eugenio Eugenio is an Italian and Spanish masculine given name deriving from the Greek ' Eugene'. The name is Eugénio in Portuguese and Eugênio in Brazilian ...

(1954-1964), appointed Apostolic Administrator of São Salvador da Bahia; future Cardinal *

Antônio Soares Costa Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular mal ...

, appointed Bishop of Caruaru, Pernambuco in 1993

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops

José Tomas Gomes da Silva José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacu ...

, appointed Bishop of Aracajú in 1911 *

Francisco Canindé Palhano Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed " Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father of ...

, appointed Bishop of Bonfim, Bahia in 2006 * Edilson Soares Nobre, appointed Bishop of Oeiras, Piaui in 2017

Suffragan dioceses

* Diocese of Caicó * Diocese of Mossoró

Sources

GCatholic.org

Archdiocese website (Portuguese)
Roman Catholic dioceses in Brazil Roman Catholic ecclesiastical provinces in Brazil Christian organizations established in 1909 Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century {{Brazil-RC-diocese-stub