Thiago Santana dos Santos was born in Aracaju on March 14, 1995 in a Catholic family. In spite of having turned away from the faith in his youth, after a long road full of trials to return to God, today he is very close to receiving the diaconate ordination, the previous step to become a priest.
He has recently completed his Bachelor's degree in Theology thanks to the CARF Foundation which also supports various congregations, such as the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
I was born into a Catholic family and from an early age my parents transmitted Christian values to me in the best way they could.
When I was little, my mother and my two older sisters took us to Mass every Sunday. I remember that for a while we prayed the rosary every day before supper: "each of us would take a rosary, light a candle at the foot of a statue of Our Lady and the whole family would sit around."
"Our faith was simple and I don't know how much I really prayed, because I remember that between Hail Mary and Hail Mary I would start playing with the rosary, and I would only stop when my father caught my attention. Simple as it was, at least I had a little faith."
When he became a teenager, he began to discuss the need to go to Mass. He did it more out of laziness than doubts about its meaning. He began to stop going on Sundays, against the wishes of his mother, who kept insisting that he go. The family rosary had been abandoned by everyone, except for her mother who prayed it frequently.
"As for my faith, from adolescence until I was twenty years old, I had only the name of Catholic Christian, a timid affection for Jesus and a stronger affection for Mary. Although I had prepared for my First Communion at the age of eight and for the sacrament of Confirmation at fourteen, I had no prayer life and did not even attend the sacraments.
Until I was twenty years old, I had only gone to confession twice: before my first communion and before my confirmation," he says. His relationship with God became more and more distant, until he came to believe that faith was nothing more than a cultural consequence, that it had no connection with a saving truth.
Although Thiago's inner life was far removed from God, he was doing very well in his studies and work. He finished high school without too many difficulties, and studied AdE (Business Administration) at a public university.
He got an internship at a private hospital, where he was hired. He liked his career and the work he was doing. "I worked hard to get all that, with a lot of dedication and honesty.
I worked in the morning and then went to college. I would get home at half past ten at night. I was too busy pursuing my dream, and it all came down to a comfortable life, having fun and indulging in the pleasures of life."says Thiago.
"I began to wonder if God really existed or if he was nothing more than a human construct. These ideas are not strange or original today. I know I am just a child of a generation with little education to reflect on and little Christian formation."
As good as all this is, the meaning of our life cannot be reduced only to work and earthly pleasures. We are called to something much greater than what this world can offer us.
Our hearts ask for much more than the pleasures of this world. "What I criticize about my behavior is that I wanted to be happy without God and without understanding what His will for my life is.
I turned away from Him, but He never turned away from me; I forgot Him, but He never forgot me."
"The worth of gold is tested in the fire, and the worth of men in the furnace of suffering."
Thiago's older sister, who had been married for two years, was expecting her first child, a source of great joy for the whole family. A few months after the birth of her nephew, her sister began to feel severe pain in her lower back and, after some tests, the doctors thought that it was a simple kidney stone and that she should be operated on without complications.
During the operation, the doctor noticed a different coloration in the liver and took a sample for biopsy. While the result of the biopsy was pending, the pain continued and other tests were performed, but the doctors did not come to any conclusion. It was then that the biopsy result came back: his sister had cancer and it was already metastasizing.
The doctors began to dig deeper to try to help in any way they could, but they knew that the disease was already at a very advanced stage. From a medical standpoint, there was little that could be done except to give him as much time as possible.
This situation turned Thiago's life around. His faith was rekindled, because it was the only solution for his sister's cure. "The whole family, friends and acquaintances prayed for her, we had no other choice," he says. His sister, who was twenty-seven years old and had a son just a few months old, died five months after the cancer was discovered..
In those five months, between hospitalizations, uncomfortable treatments, physical pain and the pain of being away from her son, Thiago's sister opened herself to the love of God and devotion to Mary Most Holy.
She went back to praying the Rosary every day, meditated on the Gospel almost every day, rethought her whole life, spoke of Jesus to those who came to visit her and, when pain permitted, was joyful and celebrated, especially when her son was brought to visit her.
"One day sadness had taken over his heart, he didn't have much strength to fight, my mother took his bible and read him the gospel of the day, after a few minutes in silence, she raised her head and said to him: "from now on I'm going to be happy". The next day he went to meet God".he tells us.
After the loss of his sister, Thiago had no willpower to pursue his dreams, because they had lost their meaning. "The death of a loved one makes us rethink our own life."
At the Mass celebrated a month after his death, he was invited to participate in a meeting organized by the youth of the parish. Although he was very reluctant and was convinced that he would not stay long, he decided to participate. That meeting was truly special.
They spoke of God's love and His invitation to all to live with Him. It was what he needed to start over. He started going to the Saturday meetings and little by little he became more and more open to the faith.
He began to go to Mass on Sundays and to rediscover the beauty of the faith. "It was a slow process and full of difficulties, starting a new life in Christ demands many renunciations: abandoning habits and thoughts contrary to those of Christ, losing certain friends who do not accept this search for holiness, among others," he says.
Two years into this journey of faith, he met the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It was through an inter-parish volleyball tournament organized by them. The tournament took place in the Servants' community and lasted all day.
For Thiago, seeing such young priests in the midst of young people, chatting, playing and having fun, was a novelty. "One of the things that caught my attention was the habit they were wearing. The joy they transmitted was contagious," he tells us. "That day, I remember that during the lunch break, I took the opportunity to go to confession. The priest who heard my confession invited me to participate in his youth meetings and I decided to join him.
This decision was also motivated by the fact that at that time he was dating a girl who participated in the retreats organized by the community. Since she was interested and Thiago had a good impression of those religious, they decided to start attending the meetings.
Little by little, he became more and more interested in the charism of the Family of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the ecclesial movement to which the Servants belong. "Their way of praying, their devotion to Mary and the Holy Rosary, their adoration of the Eucharist, their joy of being with God in spite of difficulties, the family spirit that was transmitted, all of that attracted me more and more," Thiago recounts.
It got to the point where I could not think of anything else but the life those religious were leading.She was a woman of great joy, her total dedication to God and to her mission. As much as she loved her work and her studies, and her relationship with her partner was going well, her heart was asking for something more.
"I was very attracted to religious life, but I was afraid to abandon everything and live that experience. I met several times with the priest who was following me spiritually and he made me an offer: a pilgrimage to Fatima."
Reluctantly, she decided to accept the proposal. It was one of the most important experiences of his life, because he learned the story of the apparitions of Fatima and how the little shepherds lived. The simplicity and greatness with which those children loved Jesus and Mary, and gave themselves for the conversion of sinners, served him as an example and courage to decide to leave everything and see whether or not consecration was the right path for him. "When I returned home, I left work, studies and appointments, and went to make an experience in the community of the Servants."
Seven years have already passed since his experience; three years ago he professed the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and now he is preparing for perpetual profession and the priesthood.
She arrived in Italy in 2018 to begin her formation and discernment for consecrated life. In the first two years of the formative itinerary, called postulancy, he studied philosophy, also in the University of the Holy Cross.
Later in the year went to Tuscany for his novitiate. The latter is a one-year period of charismatic formation and consecrated life that prepares them for religious profession and the taking of the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.
After his profession he returned to Rome and began his studies in Theology, in addition to the internal formation of the institute, and now he has just finished his theological formation with the Bachelor of Theology, finally giving way to priestly ordination.
He would like to share with the benefactors of the CARF Foundation that "without your help, it would be difficult to carry out this whole formation process, this great work. Thanks to the benefactors, I and my brothers have been able to have access to quality education in a healthy environment, which is essential to follow the path traced by Christ and transmitted by the Church".
Thank you for your "yes" to be an instrument of divine providence and to make possible this work of God in their lives. "God has called them to be a channel of gracecollaborating in the growth of the members of the Church and consequently in the edification of the Mystical Body of Christ. And what a great honor to be chosen by God for this noble mission", he tells us.
Every day she places all the benefactors in her prayers, asking God to reward them with many graces in this earthly life, so that they may persevere on the path of holiness, and with eternal life contemplate the "beatific vision of the Most Holy Trinity, placing also their lives and that of their families under the mantle of Mary Most Holy so that she may intercede unceasingly for them".
Gerardo Ferrara
BA in History and Political Science, specializing in the Middle East.
Head of the student body at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome.
