Blessed Eustáquio van Lieshout

Eustáquio van Lieshout, SSCC (also Eustachius or Eustache; 3 November 1890 – 30 August 1943) was a Dutch Catholic missionary priest in Brazil from the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. He was beatified in 2006 by Cardinal José Saraiva Martins on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI. He was born Huub van Lieshout on 3 November 1890 in Aarle-Rixtel in the province of Brabant, the eighth of eleven children. His family was a very Catholic rural family. In 1903, he was enrolled in the Latin school in Gemert. After reading the biography of Damien de Veuster, van Lieshout transferred in 1905 to the minor seminary of the Picpus Fathers, becoming a member of the Congregation in 1913, at which time he received the religious name of Eustachius. Upon completion of his theological studies in 1919, he was ordained a priest in August 1919. His first assignment was as assistant novice master for his order. He was then assigned to the towns of Maassluis and Roelofarendsveen in South Holland, where he provided pastoral care for the many Belgian refugees. In recognition of his work, the King of Belgium knighted him in the Order of Leopold. He then spent two years in Roelofarendsveen as a parochial vicar. In 1924 he was sent to Spain to learn Spanish, in anticipation of an assignment in Uruguay. However, he ended up being sent to Brazil, where the language was Portuguese. Van Lieshout, along with two other Picpus priests and three lay brothers, was sent to Brazil, in response to an appeal for help by a local bishop. He arrived in Rio de Janeiro on 12 May 1925 and had to wait until 15 July when he was appointed pastor for the town of Agua Suja in Romaria. The inhabitants in parish of Agua Suja, where he served as a pastor, were occupied in searching gold along the shores of the river Bagagem. These people being deeply Catholics didn't meet the Catholic behavior in their common life.