Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Beatification of Fr. Eustaquio Van Leishout

At 4 p.m. tomorrow, in the Mineirao Stadium of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins C.M.F., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, will preside at a Eucharistic concelebration during which, by order of Benedict XVI, he will read out the Apostolic Letter in which the Holy Father proclaims as Blessed, Servant of God Fr. Eustaquio Van Lieshout.
Fr. Eustaquio Van Lieshout was born in Aarle-Rixtel, Netherlands, on November 3, 1890, the eighth of eleven children, and baptized the same day with the name of Humberto. He came from a very Catholic rural family. After reading the biography of the Belgian Blessed, Fr. Damian de Veuster of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, he decided to join the same order. During his noviciate, he took the name of Eustaquio. He was ordained a priest in 1919, and exercised the pastoral ministry in his own country until 1924.
He arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1925, and for the next 18 years worked as a missionary in Brazil. In April 1942, he took over the parish of Santo Domingo in Belo Horizonte, where a few months later, on August 30, 1943, he died.
In 1949, his mortal remains were transferred to his last parish, which is dedicated to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
On December 19, 2005 Benedict XVI authorized the promulgation of a decree concerning a miracle attributed to the intercession of Fr. Eustaquio.

Learn more about him here.

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