On Oct. 13, Brazil will be celebrating.
Dulce Lopes Pontes...
Irma Dulce, also known as Sr. Dulce, will be raised to the altars. Her cause for canonization will be the third-fastest process in history. After her death on March 13, 1992, her spirit of service and reputation proceeded her.
PAOLO VILOTTA
Postulator, Cause for canonization of Irma Dulce
“She was truly a mother, who dedicated herself to the most needy, with a Franciscan spirit. Her congregation was born with that spirit. However, she also took St. Anthony as an example; and always lived that spirit of love as well as help for everyone, from the poorest to the most able.”
When Irme Dulce was hospitalized for respiratory problems, John Paul II went to visit her, months before her death. She was also a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988. Many people have compared her to Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Benedict XVI approved Dulce's beatification in 2011. For her canonization, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints studied the miraculous cure of a young blind man.
PAOLO VILOTTA
Postulator, Cause for canonization of Irma Dulce
“One night he was suffering from conjunctivitis and strong pains. His mother had given him a statue of Irma Dulce which he grabbed and placed on the eye that was hurting him. He didn't ask to see again, he simply asked for the pain go away. The next morning he began to see!”
Many consider Dulce's greatest miracle as the unity she brought to Brazilian Catholics at this time.
PAOLO VILOTTA
Postulator, Cause for canonization of Irma Dulce
“In Brazil, if I say Irma Dulce's name, there's no one who doesn't know her. Thanks to her work, even today.” For many she is also known as “good angel of Bahia.”
