Vital Maria Gonçalves de Oliveira, Brazilian Capuchin bishop, was born on 27 November 1844 atthe Aurora sugarcane plantation, Pedras de Fogo, in the parish of Itambé, Pernambuco, on the Paraiba border.

Padre Cícero Romão Batista was born on 24 March 1844 in Crato, Ceará, to Joaquim Romão Batista and Joaquina Vicência Romana. He was baptised on 8 April by Padre Manoel Joaquim Aires do Nascimento, having as godparents his paternal grandfather Romão José Batista and a maternal aunt.