IGREJA NOSSA SENHORA DA SALETTE
Address: Rua do Catumbi, 78, Catumbi, Rio de Janeiro, RJ
Themes: Actions by the Catholic Church
Translated from the Portuguese by Lara Norgaard
Our Lady of La Salette Church, built in the Catumbi neighborhood in 1914, played a central role in Catholic worker movements. It was one of two sites that supported resistance to the regime’s will. The La Salette Priests defended social causes and supported popular organizations targeted during the period of the dictatorship. As consequence, these leaders also suffered imprisonment and torture.
The history of the Salette Sanctuary’s construction in Catumbi relates to the arrival of Father Clemente Henrique Moussier to São Paulo in 1902. With the goal of establishing a Salette site of worship in Rio de Janeiro, which was Brazil’s capital at the time, Father Moussier joined with a group of missionaries to establish the Our Lady of Sorrows La Salette parish on April 14, 1914. In 1918, the construction in Catumbi, one of the two oldest neighborhoods in Rio, was situated between the Central Zone and the North Zone of the city. The central branch of Our Lady of La Salette Church, as it came to be known, would be built over many years. Its construction ran parallel to an industrial boom in Brazil and the subsequent expansion of the working class. With the goal of converting this sector, the church integrated with workers’ groups. In 1962, former members of the Young Catholic Workers (JOC) founded Catholic Workers Action (ACO). The church in Catumbi was the organization’s regional headquarters. JOC members carried out pastoral work in the parish in the 1960s. Their headquarters was also in the region, located in the nearby São José Operário community, near the former Frei Caneca Complex.
After the civil-military coup in 1964, the state persecuted union leaders and – even though they did not align themselves with communist movements – saw members of the JOC and ACO as suspect of subversive activities as well. Unable to organize in any labor-related setting, the groups’ meetings happened more and more frequently in low-income communities. In that context, the main hall of La Salette became the site for a few JOC and ACO meetings. The acting leaders of the church were Father Manuel de Jesus Soares and Father Agostinho Pretto, the national assistant to the JOC who in 1966 become the Latin American assistant to the international JOC. The regional assistant to the ACO was Father Mário Prigol, also part of the Salette Parish. In 1968, the number of arrests and murders grew as repression intensified, and victims included members of the Catholic Church.
A group of plain-clothes Army officials invaded the Our Lady of La Salette Church and the parish house on September 28, 1970. They were looking for Father Manuel de Jesus Soares, considered subversive. He was not on the premises. They searched the entire parish for arms and communist material. Weeks later, on October 7 of the same year, security officers carried out another invasion at the JOC meeting in the Brazilian Institute of Social Development (IBRADES). Students and professors who had been in classes at the Institute were detained for hours and the members of the JOC at the meeting were arrested and taken to the Department of Information Operations – Center for Internal Defense Operations (DOI-CODI). Those members included Father Mario Prigol and Father Agonstinho Pretto, as well as the Salette seminarian Divanir Canali. Imprisoned incommunicado, they were tortured during interrogations. After 54 days of detention, the three parish members were released on probation and had to present themselves at the Army Ministry every fifteen days. Later, a Military Tribunal dismissed the case for lack of evidence. Even after suffering arrest and torture, Father Mário Prigol continued at the Salette Church, deeply involved in pastoral work and local social movements. Father Agostinho Pretto spent years in exile. He joined the Nova Iguaçu diocese when he returned to Brazil 1974, developing close partnerships between the diocese’s Bishop Adriano Hypólito and Catholic worker causes.
During the entire military dictatorship, La Salette missionaries stood against violence and torture perpetrated by the regime. Their positions also aligned with the interests of the most low-income communities in Catumbi. The neighborhood changed during the 1960s and 70s. In an attempt for urban development, the government proposed new plans for the neighborhood that resulted in countless displacements of residents. The church fathers would stand by the affected communities, speaking out against the urban reform plans that violated the housing rights and quality of life of local residents.
In 2014, the Rio World Heritage Institute (IRPH) organized the project Circuito da Liberdade – Freedom Path – establishing plaques in spaces that played important roles in the fight for democracy. The Our Lady of La Salette Church is part of the memorial tour.