A Compreensão e a Vivência da Santidade em Dom Helder Camara Breves apontamentos

Abstract

The article wishes to point out that Monsignor Helder Câmara lived deep holiness, that is, he allowed the sanctifying grace conferred on the sacrament of Baptism (and of the Order) to produce in him good fruits for the Church and for humanity. After observing that Dom Helder cared for the holiness of the “human family”, maintaining friendships with “saints of the earth” and “saints of heaven”, and showing that, throughout his spiritual development, his understanding of holiness had matured. Then, the text points to some of the main characteristics of the holiness of the Servant of God and of the Poors, namely, a holiness understood as that of the “shepherd living with the smell of the sheeps”, with “spirit of Vatican II”, with “prophetic boldness”, with “intense mysticism” and “commitment to the liberation of the poor”. The article presents in a remarkable way the spiritual harmony between Dom Helder’s understanding and this experience of holiness with the teachings of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate.