Early Life and Education
Paulo Arns was born as the fifth of thirteen children of the German immigrants Gabriel and Helana Arns. Three of his sisters would later become nuns and one of his brothers a Franciscan. One of his sisters, Zilda Arns, a pediatrician who founded the Brazilian bishops' children's commission, was reportedly killed in the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
On 10 December 1943, at the age of 18, Arns joined the Franciscans; he was ordained a priest on 30 November 1945.
From 1941 to 1943 Arns studied philosophy in Curitiba and then theology from 1944 to 1947 in Petrópolis. Then he attended the Sorbonne in Paris studying literature, Latin, Greek, and ancient history, he graduated with a doctorate in classical languages in 1946. Arns later returned to the Sorbonne to study for a D.Litt., he obtained his doctorate in 1950 for a dissertation written about Saint Jerome.
Prior to his episcopal consecration Arns carried out various educational roles in a number of institutions throughout Brazil. He spent a significant amount of time serving as a professor at the seminary of Agudos in São Paulo, lecturing on the faculty of Philosophy, Science and Letters of Bauru furthermore, he had responsibilities at a number of other higher education institutes (normally being on the faculty), finally becoming a professor at the Catholic University of Petropolis, this being the last academic office he held before becoming a bishop.
Dr Arns had also been elected to the vice-provincial of the province of the Immaculate Conception of the Friars Minor. He was the director of the monthly review for religious Sponsa Christi.
Read more about this topic: Paulo Evaristo Arns
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