Antonio Alvernaz Silveira was born Dec. 7, 1951 in Terra do Pão, Pico, Azores, Portugal. Son of his late parents, Manual Francisco de Silveira and Ana Francisca Alvernaz, he was the sixth of eight children. He attended schools in the Azores and enrolled in the seminary there, followed by enrollment in universities and seminaries in Angola until 1975 when, due to the civil war there, he joined his parents and family in the United States. In his youth he served in several parishes as an altar server and in youth group ministry, and as a catechetical teacher and choir member. For 36 years he was an active parishioner of Five Wounds Portuguese National Church in San Jose, serving as a lector, acolyte, religion instructor, choir member, Minister of Communion, and Finance Committee member.
Sliveira met his late wife, Margaret Marie Silveira, in 1976 and they were married in July 1977 at Five Wounds. He has two grown children, Christina and Anthony, and calls his family his “support group” which also includes four grandchildren. The couple was married for almost 34 years, but after fighting cancer for 11 years, she died in February 2011. He had become engaged in the diocesan program for permanent deacons and studied at Santa Clara University, in the Pastoral Ministries program, from 2009-2012 while in diaconate formation. As he said last year at his ordination to transitional diaconate, “My first Mass will be in Margie’s memory because for as long as I live, Margie will always live in my heart.”
He said he has wanted to be a priest since he was seven years old. He entered the major seminary of Christ the King in Huambo, Angola and left during the civil war in 1975. Eventually he entered St. Patrick Seminary and University in Menlo Park. “I can proudly say I wanted to be a priest 55 years ago,” he said. “I honestly believe God had a special plan for me.” He chose to serve the Diocese of San Jose because it “has been my only one in 37 years in the USA, and our bishop, as well as all the priests who have helped me in my deacon and priestly formation, have been the best I could ask for.”