Lindalva Justo de Oliveira

Life

Lindalva Justo de Oliveira was born on 20 October 1953 in Brazil as the sixth of thirteen children to the farmer João Justo da Fé - a widower with three children - and Maria Lúcia da Fé (b. 1923); two brothers were Antonio and Djamla. As of 2014 her mother was still alive at age 91. Antonio was an alcoholic and went sober not long after she penned a letter to him.

Oliveira received her baptism on 7 January 1954 in the parish of Saint John the Baptist in the Chapel of Olho D'Água from Monsignor Júlio Alves Bezerra. Around 1961 her parents took their children elsewhere so as to provide for their educational needs.

She received her First Communion on 15 December 1965 and as of 1971 began to help raise her three nephews. Her parents tried to convince her to wed at this time but she deflected the conversation and instead said that he had three sons: her brother's three children that she helped care for. Oliveira lived with her brother Djamla in Natal for a time and received an administrative assistant's diploma in 1979. From 1978 until a decade later she worked in retail sales and also as a cashier at a petrol station. This was to provide for her ailing father and her mother and after the death of her father was for her mother's financial situation; leftover wages were for her personal use and she lived in Natal during this time.

As her father was on his deathbed in 1982 she aided him in his last months. He later summoned his children to him while asking a priest for the Anointing of the Sick; he beseeched his children to persevere in the faith and devote themselves as best as possible to God. He died hours later in 1982 due to abdominal cancer. Not long after in 1982 she began a technical course in nursing. In 1986 she attended a vocational movement of the Vincentian Sisters and requested joining them at the end of 1987; the Archbishop of Natal Nivaldo Monte granted her the sacrament of Confirmation on 28 November 1987.

On 28 December 1987 she received a letter from the mother provincial accepting her entrance into the congregation. Her time as a postulant commenced on 11 February 1988 in Recife and she requested to commence her novitiate on 3 June 1989. She and five other hopefuls commenced their novitiate on 16 July 1989.

She began to work at the shelter titled Don Pedro II Home in Bahia on 29 January 1991 to aid older people and the poor; she went on a retreat that same month while the forum was dedicated to the charism of Saint Vincent de Paul. Oliveira even took a driving test so she could take some of the people from the shelter for rides. In 1993 a man named Augustus da Silva Peixoto (b. 1947) was admitted into the shelter despite the fact that he was not meant to be there at all; he became obsessed with Oliveira and began to harass her despite her best efforts to keep her distance from him while treating him like she did the others. Those around her convinced her to report it and on 30 March 1993 the official of the shelter - Margarita Maria Siva de Azevedo - rebuked him; Augustus responded on 5 April in purchasing a machete.

On 9 April 1993 she participated in the Way of the Cross at 4:30am and returned to the shelter at 7:00am to serve breakfast. Augustus approached her as she served coffee and tapped her on the shoulder before thrusting a knife into her above the collar-bone as she turned around. She sank to the ground and cried out several times: "God protect me" while her attacker shouted: "I should have done this sooner!" A man attempted to intervene but Augustus warned those who approached would be killed. Augustus wiped the knife of blood on his clothes and threw it onto the floor before exclaiming to the horrified witnesses: "She did not want me!" He then said to the doctor that was summoned: "You can call the police, I will not run away; I did what had to be done". Augustus' reason for killing her was due to Oliveira refusing to give up the religious life to be with him as a lover. The killer sat on a bench outside the shelter and awaited the police; he was admitted to a mental hospital following his conviction. Coroners identified a total of 44 perforations in Oliveira.

Augustus was still alive as of 2007. He was in a mental hospital until 2005.

Her funeral was celebrated on 10 April 1993 and the Dominican Cardinal Lucas Moreira Neves presided over the funeral. As of 6 April 2014 her remains are in the Capela das Relíquias da Beata Lindalva.

Beatification

The beatification process commenced in Brazil on 19 October 1999 - under Pope John Paul II - after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints declared "nihil obstat" ('nothing against') to the cause while also acknowledging her as a Servant of God. The diocesan process opened on 17 January 2000 and concluded its business not long after on 3 March 2001; the C.C.S. validated this process in Rome on 22 June 2001.

The Positio was sent to the C.C.S. in 2002 at which point it was retained until theologians met and approved the cause in a meeting on 26 September 2006; the C.C.S. also granted their approval to the merits of the cause on 21 November 2006. On 16 December 2006 her beatification received the papal approval of Pope Benedict XVI who confirmed she was killed "in defensum casitatis".

The beatification celebration was held in Brazil on 2 December 2007 and Cardinal José Saraiva Martins presided as the delegate the pontiff appointed in his stead.