“Whenever you can, speak of love and with love to someone.  It’s good to the ears of those who hear and to the soul of those who speak.”

Maria Rita was born in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil in 1914.  After her mother passed away, she went to live with her aunts.  She was a child of joy and loved to play soccer. 

When she was 13, they took her to visit one of the poorest areas of the city.  Maria was so struck by what she saw that she began dedicating herself to the poor and needy of her local neighborhood.  She felt a strong calling to religious life and entered the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception and became Sister Dulce, her Mother’s name.

She founded the Sao Francisco’s Workers Union and opened a clinic, a library, a school and even a cinema for the poor.

As her reputation grew, so did the number of people seeking her help and attention.  She began housing them in abandoned buildings in a rundown area known as “Rat Island”.  After a series of evictions, she fed the convent’s chickens to the poor and used the henhouse area attached to the convent to create the present-day Santo Antonio Hospital.  It is now a 1,500 bed healthcare center, the largest in Bahia, specializing in cancer treatment.

In later years she developed serious respiratory problems and spent 16 months in that hospital. 

In 1988 she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her works and Pope John Paul II came to visit her in 1990 during his trip to Brazil.  She was very hard working, an example of life, and admired by non-Catholics as well.  What she did and accomplished was a true work of love.

The “Mother Teresa of Brazil”, The first Brazilian Saint, died on March 13, 1992 and was canonized on October 13, 2019.

Her feast day is August 13.

For God’s Glory.