Fr. João José Tavares
From 1891 to 1932

Fr. Agostinho Pacheco Botelho
From 1932 to 1946

Fr. Manuel Alfredo Tavares
From 1946 to 1956

Fr. Agostinho Inácio Machado
From 1956 to 1991

Fr. José Francisco Borges Pires
From 1991 to 1994

Fr. João Martins Furtado
From 1994 to 2008

Fr. Alexandre Duarte Braga de Medeiros
From 2008 to 2009

Fr. Nuno Miguel de Andrade Araújo Maiato
From 2009 to 2021

Fr. António Furtado Mendonça
1864-1940

Fr. Evaristo Máximo do Couto
1884-1966

Fr. Joaquim Jorge Pereira
1915-1993

Fr. Adriano Furtado Mendonça
1916-1978

Fr. Mariano Furtado Mendonça
1916-1976

Fr. Manuel Guerreiro de Almeida
1925-2005

Fr. Agnelo Soares Almeida
1927-2006

Fr. José Francisco Borges Pires Pires
1937-2014

Fr. João Manuel Oliveira da Ponte
1958-Present

Manuel de Medeiros Guerreiro was born in Santa Cruz, on April 12, 1891, at 11 o'clock in the morning, being baptized on April 27 of the same year, by the priest Antonio Pacheco Custódio. He died on April 10, 1978.

He was the son of José de Medeiros Guerreiro, a carpenter, and of Maria da Glória Botelho, paternal grandson of Manuel de Medeiros Guerreiro and Francisca Isabel do Carmo and maternal of José Botelho Pimentel and D. Maria José de Almeida.

In his native community he made his first studies, later on he went to Angra do Heroísmo Seminary, where he completed his theological studies, being ordained priest on August 24, 1913.

In 1919, he completed his degree in Theology, having attended the Gregorian University in Rome and the Portuguese College in the same city.

He was the only Azorean and perhaps the only Portuguese to have been bishop of the Catholic Church in three different dioceses, the first being that of São Tome de Meliapor in Goa, Portuguese India, between 1937 and 1951 and Nampula in Mozambique, Between the years of 1951 and 1966. He was also titular bishop of Praecausa, between the years of 1966 and 1971.

His social work in Nampula is grandiose, having left his name connected to the construction of numerous buildings, including the Cathedral.

In the year 1967, D. Manuel de Medeiros Guerreiro became bishop emeritus of Nampula, becoming resident in his native land as he wrote in a letter addressed to the then president of Santa Cruz Town Council, requesting a residence certificate.

The 11 of September of 1962, received the decoration of Great Officer of the Empire, having the Lagoon Municipality unveiled a bust in the wide of the theater, authored by the sculptor Álvaro de France, posthumously.

His name is the patron of two elementary schools in the 1st. Cicle, with kindergarten, one on the island of Santa Maria and another in the city of Lagoa.

 

_{(*) Santa Cruz Lagoa, Memórias da Terra e do Homem, José de Almeida Mello, 2013}