Bishop Antonio Vitalino was born on 3 November 1941 in Terras de Bastos (Oleiros, Parada de Gantim), in the township of Vila Verde, archdiocese of Braga.In 1957 he entered the Order of Carmel and was received in the Missionary Seminary of Falperra (Braga).He made his noviciate in Casa da Mata in Longra-Douro, Falgueiras (in the diocese of Porto), in 1960-1961.

He studied philosophy and theology at the Institute Sedes Sapientiae of the Dominican Fathers, in Fatima, from 1961 to 1966.He was then sent to the Carmelite College in Mainz, Germany, and to the University of Fribourg in Brisgovia, where he took a course on Religious life and on spiritual theology.He was in Germany for ten years.His specialisation is in Spiritual Theology and Religious Life.

On 8 September 1965 he made his solemn profession in the Order of Carmel and on 3 August 1968 was ordained priest in the Sanctuary of Sameiro, Braga.For several years he was chaplain to Portuguese emigrants in Germany.In his Commissariat General he was director of the magazine Carmelo Lusitano, and was first assistant parish priest and then parish priest of the parish of Santo Antonio dos Cavaleiros in Lisbon.He was also Rector of the Casa de Formação Beato Nuno in Fatima, and was elected Commissary General twice.

Bishob Antonio Vitalino Fernandes Dantas, O.Carm., was consecrated Auxiliary Bishop to the Patriarch of Lisbon (Portugal) and titular bishop of Tlos on 29 September 1996 in the Lisbon Cathedral.

On January 25, 1999, he was appointed by Pope John Paul II, Bishop of Beja.

Bishop of Beja

Rua D. Manuel I, 1.

7800-306 Beja Codex

PORTUGAL