Denver Newsroom, Oct 27, 2022 / 15:00 pm
In the presence of nearly 60,000 people, the beatification of Brazilian Benigna Cardoso da Silva, known as the “heroine of chastity” for dying defending her purity at age 13, was celebrated Oct. 24.
Cardinal Leonardo Steiner, archbishop of Manaus, represented Pope Francis and celebrated Benigna’s beatification Mass at the Pedro Felício Cavalcanti Exhibition Park in the Brazilian city of Crato.
Cardoso da Silva was born Oct. 15, 1928, in Santana do Cariri in Ceará state. She often attended the Eucharist, read the Bible, and generously cared for those in need, especially the elderly.
On Oct. 24, 1941, the 13-year-old girl left her house to fetch water from a fountain and was attacked with a machete by Raimundo Raúl Alves Ribeiro, a minor who tried to sexually abuse her.