On November 11, 2019 in Altamira, in Xingu, Brazil, an important anniversary was celebrated for the Church of Brazil and also for our Congregation: the arrival of the first Missionaries of the Precious Blood to the Amazon. It was 1929 when Frs. Markus Schawalder and Johann Rinderer, members of the newly created Teutonic Province, arrived in Belem do Parà on November 11. The Brazilian Vicariate soon began to build on the foundations the life of our first missionaries gave to the mission. Father Rinderer died of yellow fever on February 21, 1930, after him other nine missionaries died, two of them with leprosy.

Despite this beginning, the story continued, giving holy missionaries to the Amazon Church. The celebrations of the 90 years began on November 10 with a mass celebrated in Altamira, in our Parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help presided by Fr. Emanuele Lupi, CPPS, Moderator General. On November 11, Bishop-Prelate of Xingu, Monsignor Joao Muniz Alves, O.F.M., presided a celebration in the chapel of the Missionaries’ house attended by religious who worked in the Prelature. The final celebration, on November 15, was presided by Mons. Erwin Krautler, CPPS, Bishop-Prelate Emeritus of Xingu. A series of celebratory meetings took place during the week of November 11 to 15.

The celebration of the 90 years of the CPPS presence coincided with the decision of the Holy See to divide the Xingu Prelature in two. From this division the Diocese of Lower Xingu and the Prelature of Upper Xingu will be created. Since two years ago, the Bishop-Prelate of Xingu is not a Missionary of the Precious Blood, as it was traditionally for almost 80 years.
Pray for our brothers of the Vicariate who, from January 2020, will become part of the new Province of Latin America.