João de Deus (clergyman)

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João de Deus (2019)

João de Deus Pires SDB (born April 15, 1928 in Morais , Macedo de Cavaleiros Bragança , Portugal ; † September 22, 2019 in Dili , East Timor ) was a Portuguese Roman Catholic priest who worked in East Timor.

Career

Deus, one of six brothers, attended elementary school in his birthplace, after which he attended the seminary, where he first heard of Don Bosco . Deus entered the seminary in Mogofores , stayed for two years, and then moved to Poiares da Régua . Here he met priests who went to Timor to serve as missionaries there. First, however, Deus studied philosophy in Estoril and did an internship in the workshops of São José in Lisbon . This was followed by four years of theology studies in Barcelona .

On August 24, 1947, Deus made his first vows as a Salesian of Don Bosco and was ordained a priest on August 8, 1956. On January 4, 1958, he arrived in the Portuguese Timor colony to work as a missionary. For the first four years Deus worked as a teacher in the Salesian school in Dili. There he founded the Technical School Fatumaca in Gariuai in 1963 and supported the establishment of the Catholic missions in Baucau . When the civil war broke out in East Timor in 1975 , the Portuguese government ordered the evacuation of all Catholic missionaries. Deus stayed in East Timor, even though there were threats to his life. At the end of the year , the Indonesians occupied East Timor . Deus was arrested by FRETILIN during the civil war and also by the Indonesians during the occupation. In the East Timorese resistance against the Indonesians, Deus was given the code name "Liras", which means "wings to fly". The church supported the rebels. Deus sent them supplies. He also forwarded letters from rebel leader Xanana Gusmão .

Together with other Catholic clergy, Deus supported the population during the occupation until 1999. So they founded orphanages in Baguia , Laga and Quelicai to take in the war orphans. Even after East Timor regained independence in 2002, Deus continued to work in the country. During his active time, he baptized more than 80,000 people and entered into several thousand marriages.

On May 20, 2004 Deus was awarded the Portuguese Order for Merit and in 2012 the Ordem Dom Martinho Lopes .

After a long illness, Deus died in 2019 in the Hospital Nacional Guido Valadares . He was buried in Fatumaca in the presence of Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Government of East Timor: Primeiro-Ministro Taur Matan Ruak Expressa Voto De Pesar Pelo Falecimento do Pe. João De Deus Pires, SDS , September 23, 2019 , accessed September 25, 2019.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f J. Antunes: Padre João de Deus Pires: “Baptizei umas 80 mil pessoas” , September 25, 2019 , accessed on September 26, 2019.
  3. ↑ a b c d President of East Timor: STATE GRATEFUL FOR THE CONTRIBUTION OF FR. JOÃO DE DEUS , September 23, 2019 , accessed on September 24, 2019.
  4. ^ Ecclesia: Timor-Leste: Faleceu o padre João de Deus Pires, missionário salesiano , 23 September 2019 , accessed on 24 September 2019.
  5. ↑ Jornal da República: DECRETO PRESIDENTE 64/2012 , accessed on September 24, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Deus, João de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Deus Pires, João de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Portuguese-East Timorese clergyman
DATE OF BIRTH April 15, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Morais , Macedo de Cavaleiros , Bragança , Portugal
DATE OF DEATH 22nd September 2019
Place of death Dili , East Timor