Venerable Vítor Coelho

Vítor Coelho de Almeida (Sacramento, Minas Gerais, 22 September 1899 – Aparecida, 21 July 1987), better known as Padre Vítor Coelho, was a Brazilian Redemptorist priest and catechist. He was most famous for his preaching methods and his devotion to the patron saint of Brazil, Our Lady of Aparecida. His beatification process is underway and is led by Dom Darci José, the Auxiliary Bishop of Aparecida. Vítor Coelho de Almeida was born in Sacramento, Minas Gerais, son of Leão Coelho de Almeida, a teacher, and Maria Sebastiana Alves Moreira. After losing his mother when at seven years old, he began to live with his grandmother of his mother's side, and later with his uncle Vítor, a catholic canon, at Rio de Janeiro, while his father worked as an elementary school teacher. At 1911, Vítor entered the Colégio Santo Afonso, a catholic boarding school at Aparecida. The future priest's uncle enrolled his nephew at Santo Afonso with the goal to control his indisciplinated and insubordinate attitude. Even after Vítor clearly said that he didn't want to become a priest, Fr. João Batista, the school's director, accepted him anyway. Later, Vítor almost left the seminary, but declared his perseverance based on Our Lady of Aparecida: He exerced the novitiate at 1917 at Perdões, professing his vows on August 2, 1918. Vítor initiated his studies in Philosophy at Aparecida, finishing them at Gars, Germany in 1920 and dedicating himself to Theology soon after. His theological studies were shaken in 1921, after contracting tuberculosis for the first time. He later finished them after his recover. In 1923, Vítor was ordained, becoming member of the Redemptorists and celebrating his first Mass at Forcheim. Vítor Coelho dedicated years of his life to cathechesis via radio, becoming "radio-apostle" of the ZYL-6 radio, situated in the city of Campos do Jordão, and the Rádio Aparecida, where he was active for 36 years, from 1951 until his death.