Father Eustaquio, Your Friend
Biographical summary of the Servant of God
Anibal Pereifa Lasafa, ss.cc.
(Former Vice-Postulator for the
Cause of Beatification)
Translated by:
Sister Dolores Pavao, ss.cc.
Father Columban Crotty, ss.cc.
Birth
and
Baptism
On
November 3, 1890, the grandparents brought to the
baptismal font of a church in a small city in southern
Holland
a robust baby born just a few hours before, who would now receive the
name of Hubert (Humberto) van Lieshout.
No one among
those present at the baptism could ever foresee that young Hubert would
one day be the famous Blessed Father Eustaquio, so well loved in the
parishes he served in Holland; and, then later, in Brazil the well known
and much sought after “saint” and “wonder-worker”.
Called
By God
Hubert developed
into a generous Christian young man educated by his dedicated and good
Christian parents, in his family of eight brothers and sisters.
One day, he came across the biography of a famous missionary,
Father Damien de Veuster, ss.cc.
This apostle of Christian charity ministered to people with
leprosy who had been separated from their families and isolated on the Island of Molokai.
Touched by divine grace, Hubert wanted to imitate this holy
religious. He managed to
enroll himself in the minor seminary of Damien’s religious order, the
Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (SS.CC.), but he
found his studies very difficult.
His unwavering effort, firmness of will, and persistence
surpassed the weakness of his intellectual talents. Then, he entered the
novitiate, changed his name to Eustaquio, was a good novice, and did
well in religious doctrine and spirituality.
On
January 27, 1915, he made profession in this
religious family that was founded in 1800 by Marie-Joseph Coudrin, and
Henriette Aymer de la Chevalerie.
He solemnly promised to live and die in the service of the
Church, and for the glory of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
A
Priest Forever
During the first
five years of religious life, he dedicated himself to prayer and to
higher studies, which he now found to be less difficult.
Finally, his ardent desire was accomplished: with seven others he
received, on August 10, 1919, ordination as a
priest.
Father Eustaquio
was completely happy. He
wrote to his sister, a nun, “I am so happy, and I see that you are happy
also to know that your ardent prayers have been heard.
How great must be the happiness of our parents.”
And in another letter addressed to his two sisters (both nuns),
“During my whole life as a priest, I ask you to be for me like Moses on
the mountain. In this way,
offer your lives and your works for the success of my ministry.”
A
Cavalier of the Crown
During the next
four years, Eustaquio was involved in diverse and flourishing ministries
in Holland, where he earned the reputation of
being a kind and holy priest, a “hunter of souls.”
His fruitful apostolate among the Belgian glass cutters, refugees
of war who had settled in Maassluis, Holland, won for him the title of “Cavalier of
the Crown” conferred on him by King Leopold (Alberto) of Belgium.
Missionary
in Brazil
In 1925, Father
Eustaquio finally got his greatest wish.
He was going to be a missionary.
He would cross the ocean in order to work in distant lands as did
his hero and brother religious, Father Damien de Veuster, ss.cc.
With two
companions, he was chosen to exercise his priestly ministry in Brazil.
At that time, in order to make up for the lack of Brazilian
priests, the Bishop of Uberaba, Antonio de Almeida Lustosa, invited the
Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary to settle in his
diocese.
The
Vicar of Agua Suja
On
July 15, 1925, the first three missionaries
arrived in the village of Agua Suja. There, they found the first
house of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts in Brazil. They undertook the direction
of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Abadia.
Pastor of three
parishes with many mission chapels, from 1926, Father Eustaquio
dedicated himself enthusiastically to the missionary work in the region
of “Garimpo”.
In the beginning, it was very difficult to win over the
parishioners who had abandoned their religion and had turned into a
hardened and distrustful people.
The young priest applied the pastoral methods that had succeeded
in Holland.
He visited the poor huts in search for the sick, distributed and
administered medicines, and cared for their wounds.
He would console
the afflicted, distribute food and clothing to those in need; he would
interject prudence and goodness into conflicts.
He was father, friend, advocate and nurse, but above all, a
self-sacrificing and holy pastor.
In the life of his hero and brother religious, Damien of Molokai,
he found an example worthy of imitation.
In Agua Suja
(which today is Romaria) he reopened the country school which had been
closed for a long time. He
christianized the traditional feasts of the peasants.
He preached missions in all three parishes and the mission
chapels. He bought a small
printing shop and began a publication “The
Romeiro”. He began
the construction of the new Sanctuary of Our Lady of Abadia, which is
today the pride of all the people of the “Triangulo Mineiro” (Miners’
Triangle, region of Brazil).
Through his goodness and energy, his great charity and self
sacrifice, and his piety and apostolic spirit, Father Eustaquio
succeeded in helping the people of the region return to the Church.
Already, in those days, he had the reputation of being a holy and
miraculous priest.
Poa:
New Field For Ministry
At the end of
1934, he was transferred to another ministry, but the people who had
become so attached to his presence would not permit him to leave Agua
Suja. It took two months
for spirits to calm, at which time Father Eustaquio succeeded in leaving
for Poa, where he would take up the administration of a new parish.
In 1935, Poa was
still a small city situated in the state of
Sao Paulo.
The people worked, for the most part, in factories and industries
of Sao Miguel and of Sao Paulo.
In February, Father
Eustaquio was installed as the first pastor of the new parish of Our
Lady of Lourdes. With his
two assistants, he also served the parishes of Itaquaquecetuba, Aruja,
and for some time, those of Sao Miguel,
a whole region that had been visited only once a month by a Redemptorist
priest coming from the capital.
A
Working Vacation
Right away,
Father Eustaquio began a system of pastoral rotation, assuring the
faithful spiritual assistance on Sundays and all Holy Days.
He preached missions everywhere. Then, when he had organized his
principal parish, Poa, he left for Holland. He would enjoy a well deserved
vacation after ten years, without a break, of apostolic work in Brazil. He left
the parish ministry in the hands of his two SS.CC. assistants.
But Father Eustaquio’s rest in his native land was short lived.
He traveled widely giving conferences and lectures, preaching in
the churches, asking help for the construction of a parochial residence
in Poa. He collected
donations, clothes, medicines and religious objects for his new
parishioners in need. Out
of his great devotion to Our Lady, he made a pilgrimage to the Marian
shrine at Lourdes in France, and he brought back to Brazil a large
quantity of water from the grotto of Massabiele.
On July 26, a great multitude of the people of Poa received their
dear pastor returning from
vacation. Father Eustaquio
was very pleased with their warm loving reception.
The
fame of the Priest of Poa Increases
On resuming his
duties in the parish, he began immediately to build a residence.
Beside the church he built a grotto that was modeled on the one
at Lourdes, and he installed
in it a pool for the water that he had brought back.
On the eleventh day of each month, he celebrated Mass there and
shared a homily on Our Lady of Lourdes, recommending the use of the
miraculous water with a spirit of faith and confidence in the power of
the Blessed Virgin.
To his own great
surprise, the news of Father Eustaquio’s apostolic spirit, his goodness,
and all his virtues began spreading far beyond the small circle of his
parishioners out to the entire state of
Sao Paulo
and even beyond
Brazil.
Within a short
time, reports began to circulate of cures obtained with the use of the
holy water from the grotto and the holy cards of St. Joseph that the
pastor distributed, and, especially, by the prayers and blessings of the
renowned “saint,” brother Eustaquio.
The
Multitudes Seek Him
Many people
became excited and began seeking out the grotto and the pastor of Poa.
In the beginning of 1941, the number of pilgrims reached the
hundreds; in April, thousands of people coming from all parts of the
state gathered on the narrow streets of Poa, in the little square in
front of the church and the priests’ house to ask for blessings,
healings, and advice of the famous priest.
Special trains, buses, and rented cars transported the large
groups of pilgrims. The
railway couldn’t accommodate the regular traffic.
Trains were delayed and this greatly inconvenienced workers going
to their daily jobs. Poa
was too small to hold such an extraordinary movement. Father Eustaquio
was present to all those who searched for him and, as much as possible,
engaged in private conversation with some.
Thus, a great number received advice and blessings from
him in the church or on the
public square.
Every Friday,
Father Eustaquio went to the capital to be present to people in
hospitals and to the sick confined in private homes.
That work consumed much of the pastor’s time and even interfered,
in part, with the spiritual life of the parish.
The
Necessary Flight
By the month of
May, the situation was unbearable, and so the ecclesiastical superiors
decided to transfer Father Eustaquio.
The vicar gave his last blessing in Poa during Mass on the 13th
of May, after which he left secretly. He would spend some months
resting.
He traveled and
visited different cities in the state of Sao Paulo and elsewhere,
but as soon as the people became aware of his whereabouts, they flocked
in great masses searching for his blessing.
Thus he was unable to rest.
From July on,
his religious superior hid him, under obedience, on a large farm in the
city of Rio Claro
where Father Eustaquio, who was exhausted, body and spirit, recovered
his lost strength. At the
end of the same year, he was transferred again, and he lived for a few
months in a house of his SS.CC. community in Patrocinio located in the
Triangulo Mineiro. There,
he exercised a fruitful apostolate with the assistant chaplain of the
chapel of Santa Lucia in the center of the city.
Later, the Bishop of Uberaba invited him to take charge of the
parish of Ibia for some months, until the return of the regular priest.
There, he also left his mark as an untiring pastor.
Belo
Horizonte
Receives Him
Divine Providence, however, had other plans for the
Servant of God. Most
Reverend Antonio dos Santos Cabral, Archbishop of Belo Horizonte,
invited the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary to
establish themselves in the capital, Mineira.
The suggestion was well received, and it was proposed that Father
Eustaquio be named as pastor of a heavily populated parish in the
working section. Delighted,
Father Eustaquio, immediately accepted this charge.
He arrived at Belo Horizonte on
April 7, 1942, and on the following day, he was installed as
vicar of the Parish of Santo Domingos, whose mother church was Cristo
Rei, in the village Celeste Imperio.
His reputation
of sanctity and as a wonder-worker preceded his arrival.
When the people of Belo-Horizonte heard that he had been
transferred to their capital city, they began to search in earnest for
the new vicar of the Chapel of Cristo Rei.
Long lines of people formed before the confessionals, so much so
that it was only in the sacrament of reconciliation, by order of the
Superiors, that Father Eustaquio was allowed to minister to
non-parishioners, and, even then, in small numbers and at prescribed
times.
This was the
only way that the new vicar and his assistant could dedicate themselves
principally to the challenges of the new parish with its many
parishioners. He would
visit the sick, unite the faithful in religious marriages, dedicate
himself completely to the priestly ministry, and share with all the
riches of his kind heart.
Untiring
Pastoral Work
With an eye
toward the future, Father Eustaquio thought immediately of building a
much larger and more functional church.
He succeeded in acquiring suitable land, collecting donations for
its construction, and, thereby, was able to lay the cornerstone of the
Mother
church of the Sacred
Hearts in Vila Progresso in May of 1943.
At the wish of
Bishop Cabral, Father Eustaquio began numerous other activities in
different parishes of the capital.
He would preach retreats, give conferences, prepare collectively
Easter celebrations, and he would hear thousands of penitents in
confession. His mere word,
but very sincere and convincing, was able to influence thousands of
longtime fallen-away Catholics to return to religious practices and to
the Christian life.
There was, in
those months, a well-noted religious rebirth among the people of
Belo-Horizonte.
Furthermore, at the invitation of the vicariates, Father Eustaquio
preached missions in preparation for combined Easter festivities in the
different cities of the interior of Minas.
Without sparing himself, he gave to everyone, wearing out his
strong body in pastoral and benevolent service.
The
Treacherous Disease
While
on his travels throughout the abandoned villages of his parish, Father
Eustaquio was bitten by a tick which led to blood poisoning. The
alarming news that Father Eustaquio was gravely ill jolted the
communities to whom he ministered. At that time, there was almost no
effective treatment or medicine to ward off the disease caused by the
bite. Father Eustaquio knew he was going to die.
At different times and in different places,
he had predicted his approaching death.
In July 1942,
while yet filled with life, he visited a woman reputed for being holy
and who had been bedridden
for a number of years without hope of a cure.
She had sent for Father
Eustaquio, asking for his prayers and a blessing for a holy death
because she wanted eternal peace. “You will live yet for many years,”
Father Eustaquio told her. “It is I who will die next year.”
And he promised her that he would visit her another time.
Father Eustaquio
suffered horribly. To the
great admiration and edification of the doctors, nurses, and assistants
he accepted the acute pains and the painful bleedings, done without
anesthesia, in exemplary patience and without the least complaint. He
awaited death with calm and joy for he was always ready and prepared to
die. Even there, at the
sanatorium in the village
of Celeste Imperio
an attending physician, Dr. Alberto Cavalcante, had to defend himself
against the onslaught of the late Father Eustaquio’s friends,
parishioners, and benefactors.
Goodbye
with Gratitude
On August 30, 1943,
at 10:45 A.M.,
Father Eustaquio’s beautiful soul rested in the peace of God.
His swollen mouth was able to yet pronounce the beautiful words:
“Deo Gratias”.
On August 31, a
day of official mourning by decree of the
municipality
of Belo Horizonte,
there were Masses celebrated for Father Eustaquio in all the churches
and chapels of the capital.
It was as if the whole city met at Vila Progresso in order to accompany
the funeral cortege of their benefactor to the
cemetery
of
Bonfim
(Good End), and to pay tribute and homage in gratitude and recognition
for his merits.
The
People Do not Forget
For five years,
Father Eustaquio’s tomb was always covered with fresh flowers and lit
candles. People from all
parts of the Brazilian territory, came daily to visit.
They prayed for him, implored his protection, and thanked him for
the graces they received through his intercession with God.
In January 1949, two of Father Eustaquio’s brothers, coming from
distant Holland,
assisted at the exhumation of his mortal remains for transfer to a
permanent sepulcher in the Church of the Sacred Hearts, first built by
the Servant of God.
The present tomb
of Father Eustaquio can be found close to the main entrance of the
church, called “Church
of Father Eustaquio”,
in a designated chapel. There, people kneel daily to pray, ask, and
thank Father Eustaquio for favors, cures, and graces received. At the
request and great satisfaction of the people of Minas, the Cause for
Beatification of the Servant of God was initiated and progressed with
graced–filled enthusiasm.
On
June 15, 2006, Father Eustaquio was beatified in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Over 80, 000 people gathered in the city’s soccer stadium for the
liturgy to offer thanksgiving for Blessed Father Eustaquio’s sacred life
of humility, obedience, and service.
Beatification of Fr.
Eustaquio Van Lieshout, ss.cc.
|
