03 december, 2009
The Shrine of Fatima, which was following up, though from afar, the weak state of health of Fr. Fernando Leite, SJ, one of the most important students of the Message of Fatima, while announcing his death, expresses here its gratitude towards this Jesuit priest, both for the high number of publications on Fatima and for his direct, monthly and encouraging collaboration with the Editorial Staff of Voz da Fátima (Voice of Fatima), official newspaper of the Shrine of Fatima, collaboration which Fr. Fernando Leite only ceased offering during the last few years of his life, because of evident physical impossibility and with sadness on both parts.
Rector Fr. Virgílio Antunes, on behalf of the Shrine of Fatima, offers its condolences both to the blood family and the religious community of Fr. Fernando Leite, as well as to all his collaborators and friends.
Fr. Dário Pedroso, SJ, Director of the Secretariat of the Apostolate of Prayer, relates the death of this friend of Fatima this way:
“Fr. Fernando Leite departed for the Father’s House on December 2, around 10h50. His death didn’t surprise us, for his health was deteriorating more and more every day lately”.
Regarding his profound connection and devotion to Our Lady of Fatima and to Her Shrine in Cova da Iria, Fr. Dário Pedrosa recalls that Fr. Fernando Leite “wrote dozens of books and leaflets, mostly on the Message of Fatima, for which he felt a passion. His books on Jacinta and on Francisco are in their sixth edition. With what fascination he followed, for years, the Children’s Pilgrimage to Fatima, on June 10! And how he lived enthused by the Movement for a Eucharistic Crusade, of which he was the National and Diocesan Assistant!”
Being in the Year of the Priest, Fr. Dário Pedroso also underlines that “from this life of prayer, delved into God, he drew a great interior dimension as confessor, counselor, spiritual director. He worked tirelessly in the exercise of his pastoral ministry. What a happy coincidence to have Fr. Fernando Leite departed for the House of the Father during the Year of the Priest! We owe him a lot. Great is our esteem and gratitude for him. We pray for him, but we also count on his intercession up there in Heaven.”
|
