Venerated in Roman Catholic Church Parents Matias Sauter | Attributes Cassock | |
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Born 9 November 1878
Hausen am Tann, Zollernalbkreis, German Empire ( 1878-11-09 ) Died 23 November 1961, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil | ||
Pelágio Sauter (9 November 1878 – 23 November 1961) was a German Roman Catholic priest who exercised his pastoral mission as part of the missions in his Brazil and who was also a member of the Redemptorists.
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His beatification process has commenced and culminated with the declaration of his life of heroic virtue in 2014. This conferred the title of Venerable. The miracle required for his beatification is now under investigation.
Life
Pelágio Sauter was born on 9 November 1878 in Hausen am Thann as one of fifteen children to Mattia and Marta Sauter.
At the age of sixteen he commenced his studies for the priesthood. He became a member of the Redemptorist order and made his religious profession in 1902. He was ordained to the priesthood on 16 June 1907.
He accepted an invitation to join the missions in Brazil and travelled there in 1909 to work in the missions are remained there for the remainder of his life. He departed from his home and arrived with four other priests in Rio de Janeiro on 4 August 1907. He spent his first decade in Sao Paulo where he worked in the parishes and then moved to Goiás. He evangelized in small towns and reached them all via horseback. Sauter gained a formidable reputation as a father of the poor and a comforter of those who were ill. He devoted himself to the sick in the last decade of his life.
He contracted an illness that soon led to his death in 1961 after he had contracted a cold from being in the rain for too long. Hundreds attended his funeral and a week of mourning was decreed. About 30,000 people attended his funeral.
Beatification process
The beatification process commenced at the behest of the Brazilian people in Brazil with the declaration of "nihil obstat" (nothing against) on 20 October 1997 under Pope John Paul II. This conferred upon him the title of Servant of God and allowed for a local diocesan process to be held in order to gather documentation and testimonies. The process spanned from 23 November 1997 until 21 March 1998 and was ratified in 2003 in order for the cause to proceed to the next phase.
The Positio - an account of his life and a compilation of documentation - was forwarded to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in 2005 for further evaluation. Pope Francis approved that he had lived a life of heroic virtue and declared him to be Venerable on 7 November 2014.
The miracle required for his beatification was investigated in a diocesan tribunal and was granted formal ratification on 29 October 2010.