Sunday morning, November 3, the final hours of farewell. Slowly and solemnly, the queue advances towards Msgr. João’s coffin. Thousands of people have already filed serenely down the main aisle to pay their last respects. That man had marked their hearts forever. Requests, thanks and kisses – there is no set formula for saying goodbye to such a beloved father. They leave their filial hearts behind, and go with their souls set on the hope of reunion…
The clock reads three minutes past eleven when Dr. Augusto Goedert, a resident physician in Curitiba who is currently at the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary in Caieiras (SP), feels his mobile phone vibrate in his pocket. He does not even consider answering it, as he is kissing Msgr. João’s hands and making his requests.
A few kilometres away, Mrs. Fernanda Rodrigues Dias dos Reis is in the midst of a terrible crisis: her youngest daughter, Ana Catarina, only one year and nine months old, has choked on some milk and all efforts to get her breathing again are in vain…
Seven minutes without breathing
“I was desperate. Ana was losing colour, turning purple, with a very dark mouth and purple arms too. She was limp in my lap… I shouted to my children: ‘Get the relics! Get the relics!’” recalls Fernanda.
What was she referring to? She was using this popular and imprecise term to refer to simple objects that had been touched to Msgr. João’s body the day before, especially a rosary. While her children ran to fetch them, she and a friend made emergency calls: to the ambulance, to the child’s father, who was away, and to Dr. Goedert…
A few minutes later, Dr. Goedert returned the missed call, gave the necessary instructions for the case, and immediately set out to go to the place where Ana Catarina was. However… as a physician, he knew he would not arrive in time to help her and asked Msgr. João to do so, since the problem of distances no longer existed for him.
Ana Catarina spent approximately seven minutes without breathing, livid and unconscious before her distraught mother and siblings. Fernanda continues the story: “The children brought the ‘relics’, I placed them on Ana Catarina’s chest and cried out in great distress: ‘Msgr. João, bring her back! Bring her back!’” The girl then sighed and began to respond.
From this terrible episode, whose happy ending lacks a plausible medical explanation given the considerable time the girl remained unconscious and not breathing, she suffered no sequelae. In fact, all that remained of the event, for that family, was the memory of their spiritual father’s immediate help.
Thus began the reports of similar graces, which belied all appearances of an irreparable separation.
Fernanda with her husband and children; she is holding her youngest, Ana Catarina.
A telephone call… from eternity
The following day, November 4, during the thanksgiving after morning Mass, Mr. Raphaël Six, a member of the Heralds of the Gospel who lived in the house that was Monsignor João’s last residence, asked him for a grace and a sign that it would be granted.
Once the celebration was over, he began his daily activities: “I then heard the library phone ring and went to the reception desk to answer it. Imagine my surprise when I read the caller’s name on the display: ‘Msgr. João Clá’! I answered it, thinking a priest must be calling from Msgr.’s office; however, the call dropped…”
Having made the necessary inquiries to discover who might have used that extension, Raphaël was able to confirm that no one had made the phone call and consequently realized that Msgr. João had given him the requested sign.
Chalice recovered six months after theft
The response to the request made by Fr. Antonio Castro Hernando, EP, residing in Argentina, arrived in a somewhat different way. This priest needed to have his chalice restored, and a couple of Heralds’ Cooperators offered to do it in Peru. However, before it arrived there, the sacred vessel was stolen…
Fr. Hernando recounts: “I asked for the intercession of Msgr. João to recover the chalice, celebrating Masses for this intention, especially so that it would not be an object of any sacrilege or profanation. The tertiaries also helped with their prayers, but to no avail. It seemed that Monsignor was not hearing us or, for reasons of higher wisdom, did not want to attend us.”
Six months passed. One day, a young Argentine from the city of Santiago del Estero contacted the Heralds to report that he had seen a chalice, similar to those used by the institution’s priests, in the hands of a homeless man, who asked a paltry sum for the return of the sacred object… It was the one that had been stolen! Having recovered it intact, the young man sent it back to Buenos Aires.
Two encounters in dreams
Many people have had dreams of Msgr. João. Although a strong subjective factor may play a role in this, “the tree is known by its fruits,” and in the episodes recounted below, these brief communications were of great use for the progress in the supernatural life of those who received them.
Kátia with her husband and children;
From the Brazilian city of São Carlos, São Paulo State, Mrs. Kátia Vilas Boas Gonçalves writes to us. In her message, she recounts the thoughts that came to her mind as she bid farewell to Msgr. João in his coffin: the first time she saw him twelve years earlier; the pain of not having spent more time with that father; the regret of perhaps only truly believing in this spiritual paternity when he was already gone…
The story continues: “This happens to a lot of children: they miss their father when he’s gone… That night, I lay down to sleep feeling guilty for not having loved him as much as he deserved. Sleep came, and with it Monsignor. I cried in his arms, in the coffin, and he sat up. He was happy and had colour in his cheeks; he told me to be calm and that all was well. I asked him for advice, and he told me to remain firm in my devotion to Our Lady and pray the Rosary. He lay back down in the coffin, and I woke feeling on my arms the pressure of that embrace. My heart was filled with enthusiasm and joy; all the anguish had vanished!”
Msgr. João embraces some; he warns others…
This is the truly shocking case of Mr. Remy Adalberto Rodríguez Jerez, from the Dominican Republic, saved from death by a reprimand from Msgr. João.
The event took place in the early hours of April 6. While sleeping, Remy saw himself in a famous Santo Domingo nightclub called Jet Set, where various circumstances were inciting him to sin. On another plane of the dream, Msgr. João was celebrating Mass:
“Monsignor was at the altar during the elevation of the Host after the Consecration. He stopped for a moment and stared at me. But it was not a look of contempt, more of a look of caution, as if to say, ‘Be careful! What are you doing, Remy?’ He wanted to protect me; he was there to prevent me from committing any sin.”
Upon waking, Remy, who had considered attending an all-night party with his wife at that very place, decided not to go. And it was thanks to this that he avoided losing his life along with the 236 people who died in the early morning when the nightclub’s roof collapsed…
Just as in life, Msgr. João remains steadfast against evil, never allowing his children to concede anything to the enemy!
“I’ll take care of you!”
But Msgr. João does not need to make use of dreams in order to express himself. All it takes, as in the case described below, is a glance.
One night, while praying the Rosary with her husband, Mrs. Kauane Tobias began to feel excruciating pain in her leg, a consequence of bone cancer she had been battling for some time. The pain intensified, and the usual medications were ineffective.
As her prayers mingled with tears, Kauane gazed at a photograph of Msgr. João that she kept in her room:
“When I looked at the photograph, I received a great grace, such a great grace… I heard Monsignor saying to me: ‘My little daughter, I’ll take care of you!’ I stopped praying and began to cry… I am the only child of a single mother, and in that moment, I experienced a paternal love I had never experienced before! The pain immediately passed!”
Small requests… generous attention
For Mrs. Jeannet de Injoque, a cooperator of the Heralds in Peru, the news of her founder’s passing was accompanied by a supernatural joy at the thought that she now had a new intercessor. This cured her of the severe depression she had been suffering due to the death of her husband a few years earlier.
Thus strengthened, she did not hesitate to ask Msgr. João to help her overcome another trial, this time a material one: “I was going through a somewhat difficult financial situation, and I was worried about some outstanding debts. I had some pieces of land for sale, and that morning I asked Monsignor to help me sell at least one of them.”
That same afternoon, someone approached her, interested in buying a property, and she made the payment immediately!
For her part, I. R. prayed for the conversion of her son, who had fallen into alcoholism since adolescence: “As soon as Msgr. João passed away, I took a photograph of him and asked him, with great confidence, to intervene in this difficult situation. I didn’t just want my son to stop drinking; I wanted to see him renewed. This was one of my daily requests to Monsignor The days went by, until I began to notice a different behaviour in my son.”
Taking advantage of the change to insist on the need to give up that addiction, in a conversation, I. R. heard from the boy that for some time he had been unable to drink alcoholic beverages, as it caused him to feel nauseous… And, to complete his mother’s joy, he expressed his desire to seek the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Renata with her husband and daughter
Mrs. Renata Amorim, a Brazilian living in Canada, had her prayer heard after visiting the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary with her family:
“I had the grace of praying before the tomb of Msgr. João. There, I made my petitions with faith and hope, especially regarding my health. I suffer from endometriosis, a disease that profoundly affects both the body and mind, and which caused, among other complications, infertility. Previous tests had detected cysts in my ovaries. On November 12, 2024, we continued our journey to Fortaleza, and, as usual, I underwent my routine checkups. To my surprise and joy, just a week after my visit to the basilica, the doctor informed me that the cysts had completely disappeared. It was a moment of great emotion for me and my family. Praise God!”
“He responds quickly!”
On November 21, 2024, Mrs. Marina Leanza Binotti prayed at the tomb of Msgr. João, asking for a Christmas present: that her mother, Sonia, receive a compatible kidney for transplant. The next day, they received a call from the Kidney Hospital in São Paulo, informing them of a donation!
However, after completing the compatibility tests, they learned that there was someone ahead in the transplant queue. In a state of great anguish, they awaited the final answer. Marina began to pray the Rosary, holding a photograph of Msgr. João and invoking his intercession.
With the “Amen” of the final Hail Mary, the news also came: the kidney would be donated to Sonia! Filled with gratitude, she left the photograph of Msgr. João with her mother and went to the admissions ward to begin the necessary paperwork.
In the waiting room where Sonia had remained, there was a couple in a very unhappy situation: Mr. Paulo César had just learned that three people were ahead of him on the transplant list and, for the second time this year, he would lose the opportunity to receive a kidney. Seeing his dismay, Sonia went over to them with the photograph and, without even knowing Msgr. João’s name, suggested to Paulo’s wife: “Pray to him; he responds quickly!” Surprised but confident, the lady entrusted the case to Monsignor and was also immediately heard: shortly thereafter, a nurse announced that the transplant would be performed!
With the same promptness, help came to Mrs. Nathasha Borges, from the Brazilian city of Recife. A few days after a surgery, the silicone drain that had been implanted in her leg punctured the femoral artery, causing severe bleeding. The situation was extremely serious, and her chances of survival were slim, as under these circumstances, the bleeding can lead to death within five minutes. Nathasha survived for two long hours, despite having lost a third of her body’s total blood!
Even while unconscious, she held on to a small piece of paper touched by Msgr. João, invoking his help: “I have no doubt regarding Monsignor’s intercession, as I constantly held a ‘relic’ of his in my hands, asking him to intercede to save my life and help me accept God’s will. […] In another city, fifty kilometres away, my mother, unaware of what was happening to me, saw Monsignor’s photo appear on her cell phone twice. She was almost asleep and thought it was strange, as the phone does not have a screen saver. Then she heard: ‘Get up and pray; your daughter is dying!’”
After being stabilized by the medical team, in a telephone conversation with her mother, Nathasha was fully convinced that Msgr. João was caring for her and had even informed her mother of what had happened, so she could join her daughter in prayer.
* * *
On the occasion of the first anniversary of Msgr. João’s passing, we wanted to share with our readers this brief summary of favours obtained through his intercession, intending that they serve as a call to confidence for all those who wish to turn to him. It would also be necessary to mention the graces of conversion, the spiritual healing, and the interior favours he has granted in abundance, but they would not fit on all the pages of this issue…
We filially hope that the impetratory power of our father and founder, whose generosity was not limited by the gates of eternity, will find an ever-wider audience before the Throne of the Most High, where we long to one day meet him again! ◊
