Venerable Sílvia Cardoso

Sílvia Cardoso Ferreira da Silva (26 July 1882 – 2 November 1950) was a Portuguese Roman Catholic. During her lifetime she led a tireless apostolate dedicated to serving the poor in Brazil (where she travelled to and once lived) and in her native land where she founded retreat centers and soup kitchens. In addition to these initiatives with her own resources she funded a boarding school for girls but divested most of her time and effort in a hospital that she sought to improve on following its inauguration. The initial steps for her beatification process started in the 1970s but the formal introduction for the cause came in 1984 – she became titled as a Servant of God. The cause reached a decisive point in 2013 after Pope Francis acknowledged her heroic virtue and named her as Venerable. Sílvia Cardoso Ferreira da Silva was born in 1882 in Paços de Ferreira in Porto as the first of four children to the devout Umbelino Manuel Ferreira da Silva (1851–1918) and Joaquina da Conceição Emilia Cardoso (1847-19.7.1936). Her baptism was celebrated that 4 August in the Santa Eulalia parish church. In 1883 she moved alongside her parents to Brazil but would return to her native Portugal in 1889. Cardoso made her First Communion on 23 April 1892 in her hometown and then in 1896 enrolled in a school at Vila Nova de Gaia alongside her sister Maria Haydée. But she attended private lessons under a tutor before she enrolled in that school where she studied art and was given Piano lessons; following her time at Vila Nova de Gaia she studied at a college in another area. Cardoso received her Confirmation on 23 October 1903 from the Bishop of Porto António José de Sousa Barroso and later on 20 January 1911 made a private vow of service to God with the intent of evangelizing and ministering to others. The unexpected death of her fiancée Dr.