The Congregation of Holy Cross’s Patronal Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows was particularly special for the District of Brazil this year. The Holy Cross community gathered at Colégio Dom Amando on September 15 to celebrate the Ordination to the Priesthood of Deacon Antônio Wanderley Oliveira dos Santos, C.S.C.

“May the grace of God who called the new priest, Antônio Wanderley, to life and to the religious and priestly vocation sustain him in all moments of his life and help us to accompany him with our prayers, friendship and support,” said Br. Ronaldo Almeida, C.S.C., Superior of the District of Brazil, who offered a reflection and words of thanksgiving at the end of the Mass.

It was the second priestly ordination for Holy Cross in Brazil in the last month as Father Rivaldo Oliveira da Silva, C.S.C., on August 20 in his hometown of Alagadiço of the state of Sergipe.

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Antonio chose to be ordained at the Congregation’s flagship school in Santarém, in the Amazonian state of Pará, where he had served for two years as a seminarian, before spending his deacon year at the Congregation’s Nossa Senhora Auxiliadora Mission in Guadalajara-Paudalho, Pernambuco. Following his Priestly Ordination, Fr. Antônio is returning to Colégio Dom Amando where he will serve as the coordinator of the school’s campus ministry.

This was the first Ordination to be held at Colégio Dom Amando, and the school community came in large numbers to join with Fr.  Antônio’s family and the Holy Cross community, as well as many other religious and priests from the Archdiocese of Santarém to participate in the Mass. The Most Rev. Ireneu Roman, CSJ, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Santarém, was the ordaining bishop.

Fr. Antônio chose as the theme for his Priestly Ordination the biblical quote from 1Corinthians 15:10 – “By the grace of God, I am what I am, and the grace He has given me has not been useless.”

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A festive celebration followed the Ordination Mass, which was a time for all those gathered to give thanks. The celebration moved to Fr. Antônio’s hometown of Senhor do Bomfim in the state of Bahia where he celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving on Sunday, September 18.