Mass today in Ponta do Sol and book to be prepared about Franciscan Father Francisco Rodrigues Macedo | Funchal News | Madeira News – Information for everyone for everyone!

Today, April 2nd, at the main church of Ponta do Sol, a Eucharist will be celebrated at 6pm on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Father Francisco Rodrigues Macedo, a Franciscan missionary in Guinea-Bissau for 45 years.

Father Francisco Macedo dedicated himself, above all, to the teaching ministry and was recognized in these roles at the highest level by the authorities of Portugal and Guinea.

The first Madeiran Franciscan after the extinction of religious orders, he was born on the Jangão site, Ponta do Sol on April 2, 1924. He died on March 6, 2006 in Funchal.

Book is being prepared

Meanwhile, Fr. Isidro Lamelas, professor at the Catholic University, is preparing the publication of a book about it to be launched this year in Ponta do Sol.

Biographical note:
– born in Ponta do Sol (Madeira), on 2.4.1924, son of Francisco Rodrigues Macedo and Maria de Jesus Gomes Garanito, th on 2.8.1942 and pt on 8.9.1943; ps on 29.9.1946 and sac on 24.7.1949. He began his priestly ministry at the Igreja-Casa de Santo António-à-Sé (Lisbon). Having awakened his missionary vocation, he arrived in Guinea at the end of 1951. He was placed in Bissau as coadjutor of the parish of Nossa Senhora da Candelária and teacher at the College-Lyceum. He also dedicates himself to music and theater.

From 1958 to 1961 he was at the Bula Mission as superior. The cultural initiatives taken there include the organization of a Mocidade Portuguesa nucleus and a choral group made up of 80 voices.

In 1962 he returned to Bissau and taught at Liceu Honório Barreto, teaching Latin, Portuguese, Choral Singing, History and Geography. In January 1968 he assumed the role of Rector (in the absence of the holder) and on 4.2.1968 he received the award of Officer of the Order of Public Instruction from the hands of the President of the Portuguese Republic.

On February 3, 1973, he was appointed Rector of the same High School, a position in which he was confirmed in September 1974 by the new political authorities of the new Republic of Guinea-Bissau. The institution then took the name of Liceu Nacional Kwame N’Kruma.

From 1976 to 1989 he served as Technical Advisor and Head of the Statistics and Planning Office at the State Commissariat for National Education, which earned him official praise from the Government of Guinea. For what he did for Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira (Nino) decorated him in February 1991.

Furthermore, in successive terms, he serves as Regional Superior of the Portuguese Franciscans.

For health reasons, he left Guinea on 19.8.1997, having been placed first in the Convent of São Francisco in Leiria and then in the Casa da Penha de França in Funchal (Madeira).

He passed away at Funchal Hospital on March 6, 2006.

The Provincial Minister Fr. Isidro Pereira Lamelas participated in the obsequies and received messages of condolence from the General Minister, ecclesiastical and civil authorities of Guinea-Bissau and also from Guinean friends. The many talents received from the hand of God allowed them to perform 100%, as they had enviable physical resistance, which they maintained until a few years after death.