Roman Catholic Cardinal. São Clemente de Basto born António Ribeiro came from a poor family and was an only child. Entering seminary in Braga, he was ordained priest there on July 5, 1953. Frequenting the theological faculties of Innsbruck and Münich, he earned a degree in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome. Named faculty member of the named Braga seminary in 1959, he moved to the Superior Institute of Social and Political Sciences in 1964, being named director of the Superior Institute of Catholic Culture two years later. Associate chaplain and eventually chaplain of the Catholic University League, in 1967 he was named vicar general of the archdiocese of Braga to which see Pope Paul VI appointed him auxiliary on July 3 of that year, receiving his episcopal consecration with the titular see of Tigillava from Cardinal Manuel Gonçalves Cerejeira. Following the latter's retirement from the patriarchate of Lisbon on May 10, 1971, Ribeiro was named his successor at the age of forty two. Appointed apostolic vicar of the Portuguese military ordinariate on January 24, 1972, Pope Paul VI created him cardinal priest in the consistory of March 5, 1973 with the title of Sant'Antonio da Padova in Via Merulana, making him the youngest cardinal since Cerejeira himself forty-four years earlier. Highly cultured and articulate, he was a man of compromise who helped shape modern Portugal by maneuvering the Church towards a pro-democracy stance after Portugal's right-wing dictatorship was overthrown in 1974 while maintaining the Church's privileges under the new Government. Cardinal Ribeiro succumbed to advanced stages of cancer at the hospital of Santo Antonio in Lisbon on March 24, 1998 and is found buried in the tomb of the patriarchs at San Vicente de Fora.
Roman Catholic Cardinal. São Clemente de Basto born António Ribeiro came from a poor family and was an only child. Entering seminary in Braga, he was ordained priest there on July 5, 1953. Frequenting the theological faculties of Innsbruck and Münich, he earned a degree in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome. Named faculty member of the named Braga seminary in 1959, he moved to the Superior Institute of Social and Political Sciences in 1964, being named director of the Superior Institute of Catholic Culture two years later. Associate chaplain and eventually chaplain of the Catholic University League, in 1967 he was named vicar general of the archdiocese of Braga to which see Pope Paul VI appointed him auxiliary on July 3 of that year, receiving his episcopal consecration with the titular see of Tigillava from Cardinal Manuel Gonçalves Cerejeira. Following the latter's retirement from the patriarchate of Lisbon on May 10, 1971, Ribeiro was named his successor at the age of forty two. Appointed apostolic vicar of the Portuguese military ordinariate on January 24, 1972, Pope Paul VI created him cardinal priest in the consistory of March 5, 1973 with the title of Sant'Antonio da Padova in Via Merulana, making him the youngest cardinal since Cerejeira himself forty-four years earlier. Highly cultured and articulate, he was a man of compromise who helped shape modern Portugal by maneuvering the Church towards a pro-democracy stance after Portugal's right-wing dictatorship was overthrown in 1974 while maintaining the Church's privileges under the new Government. Cardinal Ribeiro succumbed to advanced stages of cancer at the hospital of Santo Antonio in Lisbon on March 24, 1998 and is found buried in the tomb of the patriarchs at San Vicente de Fora.
Bio by: Eman Bonnici
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D. ANTONIO RIBEIRO
MCMLXXI－MCMXCVIII
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