THE FIRST STEPS TOWARDS THE FUTURE PROVINCE
When Fr. Guillermo began his mission, in the place which would later become the Province of Fortaleza of the Congregation of the Mission, five confreres had already arrived, sent directly from the Province of Holland. One of the first, Fr. John Aben, died from yellow fever 28 days after his arrival in 1923.
In the years between 1929 and 1939 twenty-one confreres arrived. Their works of missions and the formation of the local clergy spread rapidly to other states in
Brazil, viz., Pernambuco, Maranhão and Pará.
In the first years after World War II significant reinforcements for the mission arrived: twenty-three confreres in 1946, four in 1947, two in 1948 and 49 and five in 1950.
With this great number of workers for the Lord’s vineyard the confreres took on, as of 1946, the direction of various diocesan minor seminaries: Caxias, Mossoro, Limonero y Caico. Many other petitions to direct diocesan seminaries were made to the newly formed vice province. But for now, there were many confreres dedicating themselves body and soul to the work of forming future diocesan clergy in these for dioceses. This later led to a good number of priests for the church. (The presence of our confreres during the first years of the decade of the 60’s. incomplete sentence). Besides the responsibility for these seminaries, other confreres worked in Fortaleza, attending to the seminaries of Piranha and the apostolicschool of St. Vincent in Antonio Becerra, then known as Barro Rojo. This latter school was taken on by the vice province in 1964, and in 1970 it became the Gimnasio San Vicente. Fr. Guillermo always had a great appreciation for the missions and was himself a great example as a preacher. He would preach anywhere he was invited, both in the northeast and north of Brazil. His great concern for the faith of the people is palpable in his work “Little Missionary”, a book for the religious instruction of all those who wished to follow Jesus Christ in the Christian faith. Missionary teams were formed in the northeast and north; and the preaching of missions became a significant and relevant work at that time.
In the north we had already taken over the Prelature of Cameta (officially on January 25, 1935). More and more confreres were sent to the Prelature to give religious assistance to peoples on the banks of Tocantins. Besides these works, the confreres continued their labors in the parishes they had taken over in previous years. These were Our Lady of Remedios (Benfica) in Fortaleza, St. Pantaleon in San Luis, and San Jose in Ribamar.
In the decade between 1950 and 1960, thirty-one confreres came from Holland. And we noted with joy that in these same years the first Brazilian confreres entered the future province. These were Bros. Aluisio Pereira Costa (in 1951) and José Domingos (in 1954) and Frs. Myrson Lima in 1957 and Lino Ribeiro in
1961. A new era was being announced. Besides these men, Fr. Elio Mota, formerly of the Brazilian province in Rio de Janeiro, joined the Fortaleza Province in 1964.
When our presence in diocesan seminaries and popular missions came to an end, other apostolic works were initiated. The first and most significant was, without doubt, the continuation of the Apostolic School in Antonio Becerra in 1964; until then it had been under the direction of the Brazilian province. Its primary objective was the formation of Vincentians in order to sustain the continued presence of the Congregation in the Northeast and North of Brazil. New parishes were also taken on at that time: Santa Luisa in 1961, Coremas in 1962, Quixeramobim and Sertania in 1964, Aracati in 1965 and Campo Grande in 1966.
With a good number of confreres, many works came to full development. Finally the decision was made to found the Province of Fortaleza of the Congregation of the Mission. It was established on July 11, 1967, with Fr. Juan Vicente, a Dutch missionary, as the first Visitor.
(Joseph V. Cummins, CM, translator)
