Padre Elias
Father Elias Resendes de André, founder and primary driving force behind the Obra da Rua in the Azores, passed away at the Clínica do Bom Jesus in Ponta Delgada on 10 June 1974, following a sudden illness, at the age of 47.
Born in Faial da Terra on 21 August 1926, he entered the Seminary of Angra in 1942 and was ordained a priest on 1 June 1952, adopting the religious name Frei Elias do Monte Carmelo.
During his formation, he undertook an internship with Father Américo, the founder of the Obra da Rua in mainland Portugal, a social solidarity institution dedicated to the care, education, and integration of children and young people deprived of a family environment. Inspired by this experience and under the direct guidance of Father Américo, he founded the Casa do Gaiato in Ponta Delgada, initiating the establishment of the Obra do Gaiato in the Azores.
Following the death of Father Américo, he made the Azores branch autonomous, renaming it “Obra da Rua” and promoting its consolidation and expansion. Under his leadership, the Casa do Gaiato extended its reach to the islands of Faial and Terceira, playing a prominent role in the social and educational support of vulnerable youth.
He also founded the newspaper O Apóstolo da Rua as a vehicle to disseminate the mission and values of the Work. Simultaneously, he implemented several social responses that were innovative for the time, namely the Calvário, for incurable patients without family support, the Ninho, for children between the ages of three and six, and the Lar do Gaiato, for young men studying or working in Ponta Delgada.
In recognition of his human, social, and pastoral contributions, his birthplace, Faial da Terra, perpetuated his memory with the placement of a commemorative bust, witnessing the community’s appreciation for the work developed during his short but intense priestly life.
His funeral took place on 11 June 1974, following a Requiem Mass co-celebrated by approximately fifty priests at the Church of the Imaculado Coração de Maria in Ponta Delgada, from where the procession proceeded to the São Joaquim Cemetery.
