Blessed Donizetti Tavares de Lima, often called the Brazilian Padre Pio, drew millions with his miracles, but his heart was with the poor and underprivileged.
The history of the Church around the world is full of remarkable examples of holy men and women who had a huge impact, both during their lives and after their deaths. Despite their fame on a local or national level, however, we don’t always hear about them in other countries. One example you may not have heard of is Blessed Donizetti Tavares de Lima (January 3, 1882 – June 16, 1961), from Brazil.
He worked indefatigably to help the poor and workers whose rights were not respected. However, he was also known for miraculous healings and levitation, among other supernatural gifts. His reputation drew millions of pilgrims to his town in southern Brazil in the 1950s.
Nonetheless, when the influx of visitors became too disruptive, he heeded his bishop’s call to cease receiving crowds. He spent his last years as a simple parish priest.
Here’s his story, full of surprising details.
A winding path to the priesthood
Donizetti Tavares de Lima was born on January 3, 1882, to Tristão Tavares de Lima (a lawyer) and Francisca Cândida Tavares de Lima (a teacher). He was one of 16 children. At the time, they lived in Cássia, Minas Gerais (a state in southeastern Brazil).
When he was 4 years old, the family moved to the city of Franca in the neighboring state of São Paulo. He entered the seminary when he was just 12 years old. Even at that young age, he had prodigious musical knowledge and talent, and became the organist and music teacher of his classmates.
In 1900, however, he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and study law at a university in the city of Sorocaba. All the while, he continued to teach music at the seminary to help finance his studies.
Three years later, he decided to return to the seminary, and studied philosophy and theology in the Diocese of São Paulo. In 1905, he transferred to the Diocese of Pouso Alegre (back in Minas Gerais). He received priestly ordination on July 12, 1908, and the bishop assigned him to work in the parish of São Caetano.
Shortly afterwards, the bishop who ordained him, João Batista Corrêa Nery, was chosen by the Pope to head the newly created Diocese of Campinas, São Paulo. Young Father Donizetti asked to follow him, and the bishop agreed. There, he served as parochial vicar at the parish of the Holy Mother of God in Jaguariúna.
However, this left him far from his family. Feeling their absence, in 1909 he changed dioceses again to be closer to them. Thus, he became the pastor of St. Anne’s Parish in Vargem Grande do Sul in the diocese of Ribeirão Preto.
Accused of being a communist
Father Donizetti became known for his intense pastoral work, in which he paid special attention to the poor and disadvantaged, aiding them from both a spiritual and material perspective. His attention to workers’ rights and to social justice led to accusations of communism. However, his focus on those in need was based not on political ideology, but on the Gospel.
He was also fervent in catechizing his parishioners. Often, they had fallen into syncretic practices that combined superstitions and non-Catholic spiritual practices with the faith. He taught them orthodox Catholicism and encouraged devotion to Mary.
While at this parish, he built a new parish church and two chapels: one dedicated to Our Lady of Aparecida, the patroness of Brazil, and the other to St. Benedict.
His untiring defense of the poor and of workers, who were taken advantage of by their employers, led to political and social persecution by political and economic elites. In 1926 his bishop transferred him away to the parish of St. Anthony in Tambaú.
Miracles and fame
In his new assignment, he was undeterred. He continued his work with the poor and his efforts to increase social justice, inseparable from his ministry of evangelization. Among other works, he founded the St. Vincent de Paul Home for the elderly who had no family to take care of them. He also founded an Association for the Protection of Mothers and Children.
As he was a skilled administrator, he was additionally able to buy land and houses for people in extreme poverty. At the same time, he chose to practice personal poverty when he was ordained. His only possessions were books, he used to say. He slept on a mattress on the floor and only had a couple of changes of clothing.
It was in Tambaú that he became famous for his miracles. The faithful circulated accounts of God healing the sick with the priest's blessing, bilocating, having inexplicable knowledge about the past and present of people’s lives, and even levitating while giving the benediction.
This earned him growing fame, which led to people coming in pilgrimages from surrounding areas and even farther afield to receive his blessing. He always reminded the faithful that God was responsible for any miracles, not he; he also insisted that the special graces were obtained through the intercession of Our Lady of Aparecida.
Obedience to his bishop
As the 1950s began, the number of pilgrims increased significantly. A stage was built in front of the rectory where he could preach and bless the crowds. This lasted until 1955, when he gave his last public blessing to pilgrims. The uncontrollable influx of devotees was collapsing the town’s infrastructure; in the six months leading up to May of 1955, the church registered three million visitors. Sometimes as many as 200,000 people went to see him in a single day.
Since this was unsustainable, the state government pressured the bishop to stop the pilgrimages. The bishop in turn spoke to Father Donizetti, who agreed to stop receiving crowds and performing miracles. He continued his parish activities, however, which were not contributing to the overload of visitors.
He gave his last public blessing to the crowds from the stage on May 30, 1955. “All of my love has always been for the Catholic religion, seeking to live obedience to my hierarchical superiors,” he said. “It’s what I always intend to do, until I breathe my last breath [...] closing my eyes, in peace, to re-open them for all eternity in the contemplation of the presence of God Our Lord, whom I have served, do serve, and will serve, seeing Him in the person of every one of my hierarchical superiors, from those here up to those in Rome.”
Father Donizetti died six years later, at the age of 79, of natural causes. His fame of holiness only grew, and his cause of beatification was opened in 1992. He was beatified on November 23, 2019.
