This morning, August 25th, the Postulator General of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, Fr. Andrzej Lukawski, sscc, visited Cardinal Dom Orani Tempesta, O.Cist., Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro. He was accompanied by Fr. João Lucas Barbosa Alves, ss.cc., who currently works in the capital. From Rio.

The reason for the visit was regarding the possibility of opening the cause for Canonization of Father Máximo Sada Rodeles, ss.cc. The conversation was positive, and Dom Orani said that the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro supports the opening of the case.

From Rio de Janeiro, Father Andrzej will travel to Belo Horizonte where he will participate in the festivities for Blessed Father Eustáquio. He is expected to arrive next Sunday and concelebrate Masses at the Sanctuary, as well as meet with the Blessed's family.

Father Máximo Sada, SSCC

Father Máximo Sada Rodeles, ss.cc, was born in Olite – Navarre, Spain, on September 3, 1919. He was baptized with the name Miguel. He entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts at a very young age and began his novitiate during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Because of the war, his novitiate was interrupted and only resumed after its end.

He professed his religious vows in El Escorial on October 12, 1940. In religious life, he adopted the name of his father, Máximo. He completed his studies in Philosophy and Theology in Miranda de Ebro, Burgos. He was ordained in 1946, while in his fourth year of Theology studies, close to Easter. After finishing, he spent a short time at the Sacred Hearts College in Madrid. In 1947, he was sent as a missionary to Brazil.

His first mission was at the Nossa Senhora do Desterro parish in Campo Grande, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, as a parish vicar. In 1954 he was appointed superior and parish priest of the Sagrados Corações Parish in Tijuca, in addition to being a councilor of the Pro-Province.

In 1960 he returned to Campo Grande as Parish Priest. In the following years he served in various missions of the Congregation: the São José dos Pinhais Seminary and the Hugo Lange Church in Curitiba, Paraná. From there he went to the Santa Margarida Maria Parish, in Vila Mariana in the city of São Paulo.

In the late 1980s, he returned to the Parish of Our Lady of Exile in Rio, where he ministered his missionary gifts until he was murdered during a robbery. His brother in the community and fellow countryman, Fr. Rafael Azanza, ss.cc, was tasked with informing his family and superiors in Spain of his death. Upon being informed of what had happened, his religious sister serenely stated: “Thank God! We have a martyr in the family.”.

The day after the assassination, on the 13th, the funeral mass and the procession of the coffin in a fire truck turned into a moving demonstration by thousands of faithful and friends. The mass was presided over by Cardinal Dom Eugênio Sales, Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, and concelebrated by a large number of priests from the Congregation and the Archdiocese.

In Campo Grande, as in Tijuca, among his brothers and sisters of the Sacred Hearts, the witness of Father Máximo remains alive. He will always be remembered for his generous death, his kindness, zeal, and apostolic dedication.