Christians in History:
Dom Hélder Câmara of Recife (1909-1999)
Born in Fortaleza Brazil, Dom Hélder Câmara became a bishop of the Catholic Church and was one of the 20th century’s greatest apostles of nonviolence. After joining a conservative political movement as a young priest, Camara experienced a conversion while ministering among the poor in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Câmara was informally called the "bishop of the slums" and was an advocate of liberation theology. Câmara preached for a church closer to marginalized people. He is famously quoted as having said, "When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist."
Câmara worked tirelessly for democracy and human rights in Brazil during the military dictatorship (1964-1985), even as he watched friends and fellow priests imprisoned, tortured, and killed. Once, when a hired assassin knocked on the elderly Camara’s door, he was so moved by the sight of the bishop that he blurted out,” I can’t kill you. You are one of the Lord’s.” As evidence of his commitment to justice and to the poor, near the end of the Second Vatican Council, Câmara led a group of forty bishops who celebrated Mass in the Catacombs of Domitilla outside of Rome. (The catacombs are where the early church would meet in secrecy before Christianity became the religion of the Empire under Constantine.) The bishops all signed the Pact of the Catacombs, which challenged their brother bishops to live in humble poverty, to serve the poor, and to be open to all, no matter their beliefs. Câmara died in Recife on 27 August 1999, at the age of 90.