The Dark Night of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
João Luiz Pozzobon, husband and father of seven, could be the first Brazilian layperson (who is not a priest or nun) to be declared saint by the Vatican. The cause for beatification is already well advanced in Rome and there is even a possible miracle under investigation. The expectation is that in 2025, the year in which the Pilgrim Mother Campaign he started in 1950 turns 75, he will be declared Blessed!
Husband and father
João Pozzobon was born in 1904 into a very Catholic family of Italian origin. In 1928, he married Teresa Turcato and had two children. He was widowed and in 1933 married Vitoria Filipetto, with whom he had five other children. He was a merchant and was highly respected in the town, especially for his honesty. He educated his children in the faith and in love for Our Lady.
Meeting Schoenstatt
But it was at the age of 43 that he began to see the meaning of his life more clearly. He got to know the Schoenstatt Movement and began his spiritual formation. A few years later, in 1947, he attended the blessing of the foundation stone of the Schoenstatt Shrine in the city of Santa Maria/RS, where he met Father Joseph Kentenich, the founder of the Movement. This encounter had a great impact on Mr. João. He said: “I felt like a little pupil of Father Kentenich. From the time I was twelve, I felt an emptiness, a lack of something I didn't understand. But from that moment on, I discovered that it was the lack of God and His Mother.” (Hero Today, not tomorrow - Fr. Esteban J. Uriburu)
The Schoenstatt Pilgrim Mother Campaign
It was on September 10th 1950 that Mr. João took on a mission that would impact the whole world. That year, Pope Pius XII had called for a holy year for the Church, inviting everyone to start a prayer crusade to ask the Father for help against the evils of the world (Encyclical Letter ANNI SACRI, n. 12).
He had participated in a series of spiritual exercises preached by Father Celestino, with the presence of Sister Teresinha Gobbo, where they discussed the importance of praying the Holy Rosary and how to encourage a prayer crusade in families. On that day, he received an image of the Mother Thrice Admirable, Queen and Victress of Schoenstatt from Sister Teresinha to take to family homes and pray the Holy Rosary.
“At that moment, I understood that the goodness and mercy of God and the Blessed Mother had given me a great evangelizing mission: the Holy Rosary Campaign. I said to the Blessed Mother: “I have seven children and a wife, and I am responsible to God for my children and my wife, but if it is God's will and yours, one man can move mountains. And everything went well.” (Hero Today, not tomorrow - Fr. Esteban J. Uriburu)
Apostle of the Holy Rosary
From that day on, he dedicated his life to taking the Blessed Mother everywhere to pray the Holy Rosary, without neglecting to take care of his own family and the education of his children. As well as family homes, he took her to schools, hospitals and even prisons. Over time, there were so many requests for the Blessed Mother to visit these places that other missionaries had to be called in to help with the campaign. Replicas of the image also began to be made, but in a reduced size, which were given to these missionaries to take to the various places. There are currently thousands of pilgrim images in more than 119 countries.
Mr. João prayed 15 rosaries every day, in honor of the 15 mysteries of the rosary. “At first I prayed one rosary,” he tells us. “Later, I went to three rosaries, then to seven - in memory of the Seven Joys of Our Lady. From seven I went to eleven, because the Blessing of the Shrine (of Santa Maria) was on the eleventh (11/4/1948). After a while - I've never gone back once I've taken a step forward - I said to the Blessed Mother: “Mother, please, will I be able to pray fifteen rosaries in honor of the fifteen mysteries?”. I thought to myself: How am I going to do that? There isn't enough time for fifteen rosaries... Nevertheless, I decided to start” (Hero Today, Not Tomorrow, Fr. Esteban J. Uriburu).
Mr. João started early in the morning. In the Shrine, he prayed the first rosaries. At the back of the house, when he was working in the vegetable garden, he had the idea of marking five teeth on the handle of his hoe. As he weeded, he would run his index finger through these grooves and so, while he worked, he could pray.
When the Campaign turned 35, Mr. João had already traveled more than 140,000km (87,000 miles) with the Pilgrim Mother, praying the holy rosary. The original image weighed a total of 17kg (37 pounds) and he always carried it on his shoulders, being a real “little donkey of Mary”.
As his children grew older, he was able to devote more and more time to this apostolate and after he was widowed again, he was ordained a permanent deacon.
Return to the Eternal Home
On June 27th, 1985, when he was on his way to the Shrine of Santa Maria for Mass, he was hit by a truck, which couldn't see him because of the heavy fog. He died with a reputation for holiness. His beatification process was opened on December 12, 1994 and they are now investigating a possible miracle performed through his intercession, making it likely that he will be beatified in 2025.