Mateus MoreiraMartyrs of Brazil
CatholicSaints.Info (died 3 October 1645) is a Brazilian

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He was beatified on March 5, 2000 and canonized on October 15, 2017, along with the other

Martyrs of Natal The Martyrs of Natal were a group of 30 Roman Catholic people of Colonial Brazil – two of them priests – killed in the northern part of the colony in massacres that a large group of Dutch Calvinists led. One priest was a Colonial Brazilian J ...

Biography

Mateus Moreira was a

layman In religious organizations, the laity () consists of all members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-ordained members of religious orders, e.g. a nun or a lay brother. In both religious and wider secular usage, a layperson ...

who was at

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

on October 3, 1645 when

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

government troops under the command of Jacob Rabbi executed all the faithful who were at Sunday Mass, presided over by

Ambrósio Francisco Ferro Ambrósio Francisco Ferro (? - October 3, 1645) was a Brazilian priest and is a saint of the Catholic Church. Biography Francisco Ferro, a native of Azores, came to Brazil with relatives. He was ordained priest and from 1636 he was a parish pr ...

who was also martyred. Mateus Moreira had his heart torn in his back as he exclaimed, "Praise the

Blessed Sacrament The Blessed Sacrament, also Most Blessed Sacrament, is a devotional name to refer to the body and blood of Christ in the form of consecrated sacramental bread and wine at a celebration of the Eucharist. The term is used in the Latin Church of the ...

Beatification

The celebration was held in

St. Peter's Square Saint Peter's Square ( la, Forum Sancti Petri, it, Piazza San Pietro ,) is a large plaza located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the pope, papal enclave and exclave, enclave inside Rome, directly west of the neighbor ...

in the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

in the presence of the

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

of Natal, Mossoró and Caicó, and about a thousand Brazilians.

Patron of Extraordinary Ministers

At the 43rd General Assembly of the CNBB in Itaici/

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

in 2005, Mateus Moreira was stated as "Patron of the Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharistic Communion". In December 2005, the CNBB reported that the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments it, Dicastero per il Culto Divino e la Disciplina dei Sacramenti , type = Dicastery , seal = Coat of arms Holy See.svg , seal_size = 100px , seal_caption = Coat of arms of the Holy See , logo = , p ...

had approved the Moreira as the patron of ministers.

References

External links

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Natal Page
{{Authority control 1645 deaths Brazilian Roman Catholic saints Beatifications by Pope John Paul II Canonizations by Pope Francis