Saint Who?
Saints Who Were Instruments of Healing
Blessed Donizetti Tavares de Lima
Priest († 1961) Feast: June 16
Donizetti was born in Brazil. His father was a lawyer, and his mother was a professor. While studying for the priesthood, Donizetti worked as an organist and taught music to other seminarians. He also studied philosophy, theology, and law.
At the age of twenty-six, he was ordained a diocesan priest. His willingness to stand up for the rights of the poor earned him enemies among the rich. He also built chapels and homes for children and the elderly. When he led a procession with a statue of Our Lady of Aparecida in 1927, witnesses said that his prayers seemed to stop an impending storm.
The faithful attributed miracles to Father Donizetti’s prayers for many years after that. According to witnesses, he healed the sick and was able to read hearts in the confessional. He lived an austere life, possessed only one cassock—which he patched himself—and gave away all that he was given to the poor. Huge crowds attended his outdoor Masses. His bishop became concerned about these gatherings, and, in 1955, he ordered Donizetti to give one final public blessing and then stop speaking about miracles or healings. Donizetti obeyed his bishop. But the bishop’s order could not stop people from testifying that they sometimes saw the priest levitate while praying during Mass.
Holy God, teach us how to pray and obey.
