Canavarros dos Santos was born on 5 December 1967 in Corumbá in the state of Mato Grosso. He made his first religious profession on 31 January 1988 in Dourados, and his perpetual profession on 22 May 1994 in Araçatuba. He was ordained priest on 7 December 1996 in Campo Grande.
He served as Rector of the Salesian aspirantate in Campo Grande (1999-2002), the Salesian Faculty of Lins (2002-2004), the Pius XI Theological Institute in Sao Paulo (2005-2008), the Paul VI Community in Campo Grande (2010-2012), the post-novitiate of Campo Grande (2010-2014), the St Teresa College in Corumbá (2014), and at present he is again Rector and Parish Priest at Paul VI.
For the Province of Campo Grande he was Vice-Provincial for the six-year period 2008-2014, and between 2009 and 2015 also Delegate for the Educative Pastoral Community, for Formation and Pastoral Ministry.