"'A Morte da floresta é o fim da nossa vida,"

There is a short tribute by Kathy Coffey to Sister Dorothy Stang in the April issue of U.S. Catholic. Her life of dedication and death as a martyr for her faith and work with the poor is strongly encouraging and inspiring. She was 73 when she was murdered by gunmen hired by ranchers on Feb. 12, 2005, on an isolated road near the Brazilian town of Anapu. Dying under the gunshots she continued to read the Beatitudes from her Bible - death found her prepared. But mostly it is with her life that she gave a lesson how to live authentically as a follower of Christ. She had lived in Brazile for nearly four decades and was known as a fierce defender of a sustainable development project for the Amazon forest.

She is by every measure a true saint of our times. It is however significant that her family and religious community does not want to pursue her canonization, preferring to give that money to the poor instead!

Eve if probably we will not see her soon on the altars of churches Kathy Coffey points out that "Many already consider Stang a saint and martyr - in the early church that’s all that mattered"

Read more about her on the website of the Sisters of Notre Dame of Ohio

and see