Donizetti Tavares de Lima

In Tambaú, Father Donizetti led a life of extreme poverty and austerity. He slept on the floor or on a rudimentary iron bed, wore a worn and patched cassock, and distributed everything he possessed to the needy. His pastoral ministry was entirely centered on the relief of the material and spiritual misery of his parishioners. In order to structure this charity, he founded numerous social works: * The São Vicente de Paulo Asylum, intended to welcome poor elderly people without families. * An association for the protection of maternity and childhood (Associação de Proteção à Maternidade e à Infância). * A kindergarten and a nursery for working-class families. * A food supply center for the most destitute. * The Workers' Circle of Tambaú (Círculo Operário Tambauense) to support the rights and living conditions of factory workers. For the youth and parish life, he also created a football team, a brass band, and actively promoted the Marian Congregation as well as the association of the Daughters of Mary. During the 1950s, his reputation as a miracle worker spread throughout Brazil. Numerous physical healings and spiritual conversions were attributed to his blessings. This phenomenon triggered immense popular pilgrimages to Tambaú, which welcomed more than three million pilgrims during the first months of 1955. Faced with the risks of fanatical excesses and to preserve ecclesial order, his bishop ordered him to cease these public blessings. Demonstrating heroic obedience, Father Donizetti gave a final public blessing in 1955 (marked by a famous 'rain of roses') and then retired into the silence of his ordinary parochial duties, henceforth refusing any publicity surrounding his charisms until his death in 1961.

The reputation of holiness of Father Donizetti never faded after his death. His tomb, located in the church he had built in Tambaú, became a place of constant pilgrimage.

The beatification process was officially opened in 1991-1992 in the Diocese of São João da Boa Vista. The diocesan phase of the inquiry closed in 2008. On May 8, 2009, his mortal remains were transferred to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Aparecida in Tambaú.

On October 9, 2017, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues, thus conferring upon him the title of Venerable.

On April 6, 2019, Pope Francis signed the decree recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Donizetti Tavares de Lima. This miracle, formally approved by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, concerns the rapid, complete, and lasting healing of a young boy suffering from a mild form of bilateral congenital clubfoot ("forma lieve di piede torto congenito bilaterale di I grado").

The beatification ceremony was celebrated on November 23, 2019, in Tambaú, Brazil. It was presided over by Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, representing Pope Francis. His liturgical feast is set for June 16, the day of his birth into heaven (dies natalis). His relics are now venerated in a dedicated chapel within the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Aparecida in Tambaú.

The spirituality of Blessed Donizetti Tavares de Lima is deeply rooted in the figure of Christ the Good Shepherd, characterized by the total gift of self, continual prayer, and active evangelical charity. He drew his spiritual strength from the love of the Eucharist, the assiduous practice of the sacrament of reconciliation, and an ardent filial devotion to the Virgin Mary, particularly under the title of Our Lady of Aparecida, to whom he attributed all the wonders performed through his hands.

His legacy remains alive through the social institutions he founded, which continue to serve the poor of Tambaú. Furthermore, every year in June, tens of thousands of faithful participate in the "Marcha da Fé" (March of Faith), a penitential pilgrimage to Tambaú that testifies to the intact fervor of the Brazilian people toward the one they affectionately call the "holy priest of Tambaú."