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Salomão Barbosa Ferraz (18 February 1880 – 11 May 1969) was a Brazilian Roman Catholic priest and Bishop whose career took him through membership of several Christian denominations from the Presbyterian Church to the Roman Catholic Church.
Biography
Ferraz was born in Jaú, Brazil on February 18, 1880. Originally a Presbyterian Minister, Barbosa Ferraz was ordained an Anglican Priest in 1917. He founded an ecumenical society, the "Order of Saint Andrew", in 1928, and was instrumental in organising a 'Free Catholic Congress' in 1936. At the close of this event he established a "Free Catholic Church" and was elected as the church's first Bishop. The Second World War halted his plans to be consecrated Bishop by European Old Catholics, but Salomão Barbosa Ferraz was eventually consecrated Bishop by Carlos Duarte Costa following this Bishop's excommunication by the Vatican in 1945.
Salomão Barbosa Ferraz in turn consecrated Manoel Ceia Laranjeira for the Free Catholic Church of Brazil in 1951, but sought reception into the Roman Catholic Church, which he achieved under Pope John XXIII, leaving Manoel Ceia Laranjeira at the head of the Free Catholic Church, then renamed Independent Catholic Apostolic Church of Brazil.
In 1963, Bishop Ferraz was received in the Roman Catholic Church as the Titular Bishop of Eleutherna and took part of sessions of the Second Vatican Council under that office. He was also appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Rio de Janeiro by Pope John XXIII. Bishop Ferraz died in 1969, leaving his wife and seven children.
Ferraz was a rare example of a legally accepted married bishop in the modern Roman Catholic history.