Ducablog: apontamentos: Health and Peace

Padre Eustáquio

August 30, we celebrate Father Eustaquio's day, religious name adopted by Hubertus (Huub) van Lieshout, a Dutchman who lived many years in Brazil as a missionary. He is venerated in Belo Horizonte, despite having spent a short time in the capital of Minas Gerais, from April 1942 to August 1943, when he died of a kind of Spotted fever, transmitted by ticks, according to what is known.

Missionaries are true heroes. Generally, they are sent by their congregations to places that are often inhospitable, for various reasons, to convert pagan populations. After studying philosophy and theology, he completed a short period of mission in Holland, being later dispatched, with two others, in 1925, to the wild corners of Minas Gerais. There he began his saga in Brazil, in a village called "Água Suja", where the people were "mostly of miners who lost everything as easily as they gained, and whose troubled life - often miserable - came from irreligiosity, dissolution and crime”, according to the words of Fr. Venâncio Hulselmans, in his book “Father Eustaquio van Lieshout SS.CC.”[1]

The book also says that the village “surprised the priests in many ways. They were amazed to see how those people, while possessing a devotion that bordered on enthusiasm, in particular to Our Lady of Abadia, had a conduct of life diametrically opposed to those feelings. It had to be changed." The priest came to suffer threats, but he was not intimidated, ending up taming the uncivilized, with vigor and virtue. He helped the unassisted population, with the use of leaves and roots that he himself collected and prepared to remedy ills. The fame of a miracle worker began to spread and, when his congregation decided to transfer him to São Paulo, the local population tried to prevent him from leaving.

In 1935, he was finally transferred to Poá, in São Paulo. There he continued to work healings and conversions, with his blessings of the waters and in the confessional. His fame increased so much that they started making a pilgrimage in the city, causing a lot of turmoil. For this reason, the authorities decided to remove him. Father Eustaquio even wrote a letter to the Archbishop of São Paulo, saying: "This is the holy vocation I feel in me: to relieve bodily pain in order to revive the shattered faith of our times." But he couldn't convince him. He was confined for a time in Rio de Janeiro, with the recommendation of Cardinal Sebastião Leme that his blessings be processed discreetly and without publicity for any extraordinary events. He was, for example, prohibited from curing paralytics.

It sounds like a joke, but it's not. Rather than evaluating the case cautiously, they simply set aside a person who was successfully converting thousands of people. What did the top of the Catholic Church finally want? Isn't that what Jesus told the apostles, that they would do wonders in His name?

Also in Rio, the crowd flocked to him, prompting Cardinal Leme to practically expel him from the city. He was sheltered by friends on a farm in the State of São Paulo and, finally, at the request of the Archbishop of Belo Horizonte, Dom Antônio dos Santos Cabral, he was transferred to Belo Horizonte in April 1942. By order of superiors, his apostolate was reduced , with limited hours. Even so, the people of Belo Horizonte received many blessings and many miracles are reported.

Many people from Belo Horizonte tell stories of the wonders that were operated through Father Eustaquio, with healings and conversions. The miracles continued and it seems that they are still being processed through him. Wherever he went, he left his mark of holiness, acclaimed by the people. He was beatified in 2006 and a process is underway for his canonization.

There are many cases told by the people about the "charismatic" personality of Father Eustaquio, who touched hearts, even in the smallest gestures. My father told us that he was once walking along a street in Belo Horizonte, with one of his brothers, when they saw, in the distance, Father Eustáquio, also on foot, going in the opposite direction. – Look, isn't he Father Eustaquio? – asked each other – We could go and ask for a blessing. Just then, the priest turned and made the Sign of the Cross towards them.

With my mother, who was also very devoted to him, there was a kind of manifestation in two dreams, some years after the priest's death. She had lost her first child, newborn, and dreamed of the priest telling her that she would lose a child. She said she had already lost one and asked if that was what he was talking about. He didn't answer, neither yes nor no.

Another interesting episode that happened to my parents, also in a dream. Father Eustaquio told my mother that she would have seven children. Without her having said anything about it, my father gave her a gift – I don't know if the next day, or days later: a piece of crockery with seven little painted children; and he asked if it wouldn't be a good number. She was impressed because it was the same number in the dream.

At that time, Catholic families did not avoid having children, no matter how many might be. Well, years later, after the production of the “factory” was finished, my mother remembered her dreams and found that they were right. She had seven children, counting the two who died as little ones. Yes, she had another one who died newborn – a little girl. Strange coincidences... Signs to help strengthen faith?

Father Eustaquio's traditional greeting was "Health and Peace - Health to your bodies, Peace to your souls." [4]

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Ducablog: apontamentos

segunda-feira, agosto 30, 2021

Health and Peace

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