Venerable Pelágio Sauter

Pelágio Sauter (9 November 1878 – 23 November 1961) was a German Roman Catholic priest who worked in the missions of Brazil. He was a member of the Redemptorists. He served in the Brazilian missions from 1909 until his death, never returning to his homeland. He was dedicated to the needs of the ill and poor and often visited hundreds of villages on horseback. His care of the sick intensified in the last decade of his life; he contracted his final illness (which led to his death) while visiting an ill person. His beatification process commenced after his death, leading to the declaration of his life of heroic virtue in 2014. This conferred the title of Venerable upon him. The miracle required for his beatification is now under investigation. Pelágio Sauter was born on 9 November 1878 in Hausen am Tann as one of fifteen children to Mattis Sauter (a local schoolteacher) and Marta Neher. His brother Gaspar later became a Redemptorist priest and his mother often volunteered at their local parish. In 1892 he received both his First Communion and Confirmation and then worked for a brief period as an apprentice locksmith. He commenced his studies for the priesthood in Bachham in 1894 with the Redemptorists guiding his education. Sauter was also educated in Austria as a student of Blessed Stanggassinger and finished high school back in his homeland. He became a member of the Redemptorist religious congregation and made his solemn religious profession on 8 September 1902 at Gars am Inn. He received his ordination to the priesthood on 16 June 1907 in Deggendorf from the Bishop of Regensburg. He accepted an invitation to join the missions in Brazil and travelled there in 1909 to work in the missions for the remainder of his life. Sauter would never return to his homeland again. He arrived with four other priests in Rio de Janeiro on 6 August 1909. He spent his first decade in São Paulo where he worked in parishes and then moved to Goiás.