
Manoel Soares
Photo courtesy of Brazilian White Center – UNASP.
Coelho, Manoel Soares (1905–1986)
By The Brazilian White Center – UNASP
The Brazilian White Center – UNASP is a team of teachers and students at the Brazilian Ellen G. White Research Center – UNASP at the Brazilian Adventist University, Campus Engenheiro, Coelho, SP. The team was supervised by Drs. Adolfo Semo Suárez, Renato Stencel, and Carlos Flávio Teixeira. Bruno Sales Gomes Ferreira provided technical support. The following names are of team members: Adriane Ferrari Silva, Álan Gracioto Alexandre, Allen Jair Urcia Santa Cruz, Camila Chede Amaral Lucena, Camilla Rodrigues Seixas, Daniel Fernandes Teodoro, Danillo Alfredo Rios Junior, Danilo Fauster de Souza, Débora Arana Mayer, Elvis Eli Martins Filho, Felipe Cardoso do Nascimento, Fernanda Nascimento Oliveira, Gabriel Pilon Galvani, Giovana de Castro Vaz, Guilherme Cardoso Ricardo Martins, Gustavo Costa Vieira Novaes, Ingrid Sthéfane Santos Andrade, Isabela Pimenta Gravina, Ivo Ribeiro de Carvalho, Jhoseyr Davison Voos dos Santos, João Lucas Moraes Pereira, Kalline Meira Rocha Santos, Larissa Menegazzo Nunes, Letícia Miola Figueiredo, Luan Alves Cota Mól, Lucas Almeida dos Santos, Lucas Arteaga Aquino, Lucas Dias de Melo, Matheus Brabo Peres, Mayla Magaieski Graepp, Milena Guimarães Silva, Natália Padilha Corrêa, Rafaela Lima Gouvêa, Rogel Maio Nogueira Tavares Filho, Ryan Matheus do Ouro Medeiros, Samara Souza Santos, Sergio Henrique Micael Santos, Suelen Alves de Almeida, Talita Paim Veloso de Castro, Thais Cristina Benedetti, Thaís Caroline de Almeida Lima, Vanessa Stehling Belgd, Victor Alves Pereira, Vinicios Fernandes Alencar, Vinícius Pereira Nascimento, Vitória Regina Boita da Silva, William Edward Timm, Julio Cesar Ribeiro, Ellen Deó Bortolotte, Maria Júlia dos Santos Galvani, Giovana Souto Pereira, Victor Hugo Vaz Storch, and Dinely Luana Pereira.
First Published: January 29, 2020
Manoel Soares Coelho, pastor and publishing leader, was born January 25, 1905,1 in the British territory of Bermuda.2 He was the son of Manoel Soares Coelho (1870-1974), native of Santa Maria Island,3 and Maria Figueiredo Coelho.4 When his father became an Adventist, he was forced by his wife’s relatives to leave his family, since they professed another religion. A few years later Manoel’s mother was reunited with her husband in Loma Linda, California, where she had moved with her son Manoel. The boy, at about 15 years old, was finally able to be reunited with his father who gradually integrated him into the Adventist Church in which he was eventually baptized. While living at Loma Linda, Manoel had the opportunity to meet Ellen G. White in person at the Loma Linda Church. 5
When he was about 23 years old, he decided to serve God as a missionary in Brazil where he emigrated in 1928. There he enrolled in the theology course at Brazil College in order to also improve his Portuguese. During the holidays, while canvassing in the countryside of the state of São Paulo, he met Rute Pereira Soares (1905-1979), who had been born in the city of Jaboticabal, state of São Paulo. They married in 1930 and from this union four children were born: Eunice, Tércio Emanuel, Onésimo, and Rubens Soares.6
Manoel did not finish the theology course. He entered denominational service in 1934 as director of the Canvassing Department of the São Paulo Conference, since he had demonstrated ability in this area as a student.7 He held the position until 1940,8 when he was appointed canvassing leader of the South Brazil Union Conference.9 He stayed in that position until 1948.10 He was ordained to the ministry in 195011 and at the end of the same year accepted the invitation to be a district pastor for the Parana-Santa Catarina Conference, a position he held until 1957.12 Due to administrative reorganization, he next became a district pastor with the Paraná Conference until his retirement in 1965.13
Following retirement, he moved to the city of Avanhandava, state of São Paulo. There was no Adventist presence in the area, so he planted a church.14 Next he moved to the city of Penápolis where he contributed to the construction of the local church by a donation of land.15 He died at age 81 on November 19, 1986, in Penápolis. 16
Manoel Soares Coelho’s contribution to the Adventist Church in Brazil was beneficial during his 16 years as a leader in canvassing, especially since he took up this position at the São Paulo Conference in an era of global financial crisis. As a pastor, he ministered in the districts of Presidente Prudente and Araçatuba, in the state of São Paulo, and in Curitiba, Ponta Grossa, Apucarana, Sertãozinho, Maringá, Cruzeiro D’Oeste, and Jacarezinho in the state of Paraná. 17 Wherever he went he was involved in planting churches. As a result of his missionary efforts, the Ponta Grossa Adventist School, in the state of Paraná was also founded.18
Notes
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Biography of Manoel Soares, in Collection of the National Center of Adventist History/Ellen G. White Research Center UNASP-EC, Engenheiro Coelho, SP. Shelf 2. Rack 14. Folder “Soares, Manoel.” Accessed September 1, 2016.↩
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Tércio Sarli, “Manoel Soares,” Revista Adventista, year 83, n. 2, February 1987, 25.↩
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Conrado Oehninger, Interviewed by Ivo Ribeiro de Carvalho, Ellen G. White Research Center, Engenheiro Coelho, SP, October 10, 2017.↩
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Ibid.↩
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Biography of Manoel Soares, in Collection of the National Center of Adventist History/Ellen G. White Research Center UNASP-EC, Engenheiro Coelho, SP. Accessed September 1, 2016.↩
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“Ruth Pereira Soares,” Revista Adventista, year 74, n. 10, October 1979; Tércio Sarli, “Manoel Soares,” Revista Adventista, year 83, n. 2, February 1987, 25; Biography of Manoel Soares (Collection of the National Center of Adventist History/Ellen G. White Research Center: UNASP-EC), 3; and Conrado Oehninger, interviewed by Ivo Ribeiro de Carvalho, Ellen G. White Research Center, Engenheiro Coelho, SP, October 10, 2017.↩
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“Sao Paulo Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1935), 177.; Tércio Sarli, “Manoel Soares,” Revista Adventista, year 83, no. 2, February 1987, 25; and Conrado Oehninger, interviewed by Ivo Ribeiro de Carvalho, Ellen G. White Research Center, Engenheiro Coelho, SP, October 10, 2017.↩
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“South Brazil Union Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1941), 190.↩
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Tércio Sarli, “Manoel Soares,” Revista Adventista, year 83, n. 2, February 1987, 25.↩
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“South Brazil Union Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1949), 166.↩
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“Sao Paulo Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1950), 169; and “Parana-Santa Catarina Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1951), 179.↩
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“Parana-Santa Catarina Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1951), 179; and “Parana Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1958), 157.↩
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“Parana Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1958), 157; and “Parana-Santa Catarina Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1965-66), 207.↩
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Conrado Oehninger, Interviewed by Ivo Ribeiro de Carvalho, Ellen G. White Research Center, Engenheiro Coelho, SP, October 10, 2017.↩
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“Pioneiro Adventista doa Terreno à Igreja,” Revista Adventista, year 75, n. 12, December 1980, 32; and Tércio Sarli, “Manoel Soares,” Revista Adventista, year 83, n. 2, February 1987, 25.↩
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Tércio Sarli, “Manoel Soares,” Revista Adventista, year 83, n. 2, February 1987, 25.↩
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Ibid.↩
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Conrado Oehninger, interviewed by Ivo Ribeiro de Carvalho, Ellen G. White Research Center, Engenheiro Coelho, SP, October 10, 2017.
Sources
Biography of Manoel Soares. In: Collection of the National Center of Adventist History/Ellen G. White Research Center UNASP-EC, Engenheiro Coelho, SP. Shelf 2. Rack 14. Folder “Soares, Manoel.” Accessed September 1, 2016.
“Pioneiro Adventista doa Terreno à Igreja.” Revista Adventista, year 75, no. 12, December 2009, 32. Accessed September 1, 2016, http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br/.
“Ruth Pereira Soares.” Revista Adventista, year 74, no. 10, October 1979, 23.
Sarli, Tércio. “Manoel Soares.” Revista Adventista, year 83, no. 2, February 1987, 25. Accessed September 1, 2016, http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br/.
Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1935, 1941, 1949-51, 1958, 1965-66. Accessed September 2, 2016. https://www.adventistyearbook.org/.↩