14. Witnesses: Eneas Berilli

Enéas Berilli was born in Muquí (Espírito Santo, Brazil) in 1936. He is an Augustinian Recollect and was ordained as a priest in 1962. He came to the mission of Labrea the following year, and first served in Canutama and later in Tapaua between April 1966 and December 1969. He later continued to serve the people of God in the south and south–east of Brazil. He was Prior Provincial of the Province of Saint Rita for twelve years.

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We were sent to Labrea by decision of the first Provincial Chapter of Saint Rita in 1963. The 4^th Act decreed: “That the provincial council would send immediately to the Prelature of Labrea enough missionaries, well prepared and alive with true apostolic spirit”. The most urgent reason was the lack of missionaries. Canutama and Tapaua only had one missionary each. The Provincial Prior, José Gonçalves, requested our presence in the missions.

We accepted with great joy, ready to go anywhere. Because of the urgency of the situation we left immediately, and arrived to Labrea on the 6^th of October 1963. I only had one year as a priest and seven as a religious. In Labrea, after a time of getting used to the climate and the mosquitos, we were given our first placement: I would go to Canutama.

In December 1963 I made the desobriga with the Augustinian Recollect Cassiano Amorim, between Labrea and Canutama where I stayed, for Isidoro Irigoyen was on holiday in Spain. I spent my first Christmas in the missions with Augusto in Canutama and later I continued to Tapaua in January, where I was to be the companion of Victório Henrique Cestaro.

Of those regions we had some news when a missionary came to participate in meetings or to do awareness campaigns. They told us of their struggles and adventures, of their desobrigas and river journeys with the enormous distances and the difficulties they went through. But as much as someone recounts their experience in the Amazon when you arrive there it is something impressive and unknown: the forest and the breadth of the rivers, the difference between the dry season with the Purus six meters deep, or in the wet season when it goes up to twenty-three.

Our expectation was that of a lot of work, and many deficiencies in all things: the house, the distances, illnesses, the lack of schools and doctors, hospitals left in God’s hands… It was not discouraging, rather the opposite. The missionaries decided to get involved and work for God’s kingdom, knowing with pleasure that we brought hope to that town.

In Canutama I lived through the process of the building of the Church and the parish house; in Tapaua there was no house or Church. From Canutama I could get to know all the events of Tapaua through Victorio’s visits. In March the Augustinian Recollect Francisco Eugênio came to the Prelature and he was sent to Canutama so that I would go to Tapaua, where I arrived on the 3^rd of April 1966.

The idea was to continue with the building of the house, which I dedicated myself to for five months, working every day well into the night. In July we could now open the new house, an event for which the female Augustinian Recollect Missionaries were present for the first time in. Amongst them was the well-regarded Cleusa, who spent a week living together in friendly fashion with the Apurinã.

The house had the lower part in brick for the common spaces. The upper part was wood, with a roofed space around to prevent sun on the walls, and to ease the climate. At that time, it was divided into three rooms: a living room, an entrance and a room for keeping clothes. A staircase went down from the main room to the kitchen, dining room, bathroom, storeroom and a patio in front of a large area of free forest. The roof was made with painted asbestos; given that it was necessary to waterproof the building in an area of strong continuous rain.

When we finished the building of the residence we decided that it was time to build the complete main Church. With the metal structure that Bishop José had sent, we had tried to build and made an excavation in front of the old chapel. But an iron column of the structure had suffered a serious dent through an accident, and in Tapaua it was impossible to straighten it out. For that reason, we decided we wouldn’t use it.

After selling it in Manaus, we bought four-hole bricks, cement, iron, boards and tiles. We showed the design to the engineer in the Labrea residence, and we told him that we would direct the work as in Tapaua no-one knew anything about carpentry. He gave us advice about foundations, and about how to dampen the bricks before putting them in place and covering them.

Before the waters rose we looked for sand and stones in the river, for later these tasks would be impeded for the next six months. The benefactor of the parish, Vitorino Marques, collaborated by paying for and sending free from Manaus all the materials, as well as the customs fee that then existed.

All of the people, especially the children, helped to unload. The small children, like ants, managed to do it a day when many said it would take at least a week. It was a memorable day, and a great joy for everyone; there were even fireworks.

We got on with it, and started the works. We had two helpers, a father and son who were in prison, whom we managed to free by making ourselves responsible for them in front of the Mayor and the police. We started to transfer the religious objects to the Dom José Alvarez School, which during the works functioned as church and school. And we dismantled the old chapel, to build on this site the new church.

Vitório and myself alternated in the works and the other jobs in the mission. At the beginning we had designed a chapel 10 x 20 metros, but by request of the bishop we added another three meters for the sacristy. And in this way we took advantage of the height over the hillside to make underneath a large hall for catechesis.

When the moment came to make the roof we needed a large quantity of wood, and we contracted a group of men, who together with me, stayed for almost a month in the forest woodcutting. We made use of an already fallen tree and cut another, so that in this way we obtained three large pieces: two eleven meters long, and the other eight meters. We sawed them all by hand where they were, and we prepared to transfer them to the job by boat.

The tilting windows, made of iron and glass, were bought in Manaus and sent to Labrea. With a welding torch from the Prelature I cut and soldered every window, and later I sent them to Tapaua. The work was virtually done in a year and a half.

At this time, we also installed electricity. At the beginning we had bought a 6.5 KVA generator capable of powering the church, the school, the main square, the local government, the house of our community, and the house of a local trader who shared the fuel costs. When we went to Manaus to register the Dom José Alvarez School in the Education Office and ask for school materials, we also went to the electricity Company to ask for cables, insulators, posts and lamps with the responsibility of lighting the main street. The Company supplied us with the materials.

When I came to the Prelature everything was new for me, I was willing to do anything and face with youthfulness all the challenges which were placed in front of me. Tapaua was a new mission with everything to do, with about eight hundred inhabitants and one hundred and fifty children in the school. When they finished Primary School they had nothing to do. Malaria was frequent, almost an epidemic, and the “black fever” decimated families and scared everyone.

A parish which is starting out has almost nothing, it lacks everything. The attention was sacramental and in the desobrigas we gave a small catechesis when evening came with confessions and the rosary, given that the liturgy didn’t allow evening masses.

In terms of education, in 1966 we started a special course to deepen the knowledge of the children in certain key subjects: Portuguese, Maths, History, Geography, Sciences, Morality, Civil values and Religion. I believe it was very beneficial for the progress of the children in the school.

In 1967 there was a lack of teachers, so I used two girls that had got very good grades in the previous semester and took the initiative by teaching to read and write a group of forty children. The idea was that later the two young girls would continue teaching them. To our surprise, in six months the children already knew how to read and write. In 1968 this included a group of Apurinãs interested in learning Portuguese. Although some gave up, other finished with considerable fluency. The education, as a priority, stimulated the notion of citizenship amongst the young.

It was the time of the school processions, with uniforms donated by the parish, and which were one of the main attractions for the people. When the first Provincial to make a visit, Agostinho Belmonte, arrived he was received by one of these processions which included speeches, poems and songs. Everyone enjoyed it, and the Dom José Alvarez School showed that it was alive.

The lively groups of young people had their strong point in the catechesis, the frequent assistance at Mass and the football championship; the Sunday star attraction. In the morning we prayed the Divine Office and celebrated Mass, and at night we prayed the rosary with the people.

When I arrived there was no doctor or hospital. Malaria was an epidemic: I arrived in April, and in July I had my first Malaria. The black fever, or Labrea malaise, started with a small fever on the first day, but on the third death was certain. This illness brought to Tapaua the Columbian doctor Jorge Boschell, the discoverer of the wild yellow fever. He stayed several times in the community house whilst he investigated. At the beginning he himself believed that it was caused by some fungus in the mandicoa flour, the main part of the Amazon diet.

The most important feasts at that time were the Day of Independence on the 7^th of September, with processions from the schools with their uniforms and drums; and the novena to Saint Rita of Casia. In Holy Week we put on films about the Passion, and they celebrated the Stations of the Cross. At Christmas, they made a Nativity scene and had a Christmas Carol competition with traditional songs from the North-east. They called them “pastorinhas” which they carried out with great creativity, with their own songs and costumes.

We received few visits, but whilst I was in Tapaua Bishop José Alvarez came. He spent several days with us, visited the Apurinãs with whom he attended a feast with their songs and dances. It was almost a farewell, for little afterwards his health became bad. The provincial Agostinho Belmonte visited all the houses in the Prelature in his tenure. We also twice received a group of doctors, teachers, social assistants, laboratory technicians and engineers who came as part of the Rondón project; in all, twelve people lived with us for a month.

During the six years that I spent in the Prelature I visited my family twice, who worried quite a lot about me. My sister, a doctor, worked for several years in the Amazon Institute of Studies in Manaus. I could have greater contact with her through letters.

I was always received with great love and a lot of curiosity, in order to hear things about the Amazon. I prepared slides to show the magnificence of the rivers, their appearance in the dry and rainy seasons; the collection of latex and chestnuts; the journeys through the tributaries. Also the consequences of leprosy with many mutilated people; the plantations of mandioca, corn, beans, watermelons, melons and the process of preparing the beaches for planting. The missionary was waited for with great affection. In our ministries they had campaigns, and people collaborated with great joy.

For me it was a surprise to get to know the Amazon: the poor but supportive people, humble, simple, joyful, even when living in floating houses or with a palm leaf roof. They lived without dividing rooms or furniture, not even a chair; always sleeping in a hammock.

But they are incredibly welcoming, and more so with the missionary. What most caught my attention was the solidarity, as much in work as is times of suffering and pain. And you perceived a great resilience in the face of all the difficulties they passed through, for they are truly an admirable people.

The arrival of television started to change things a little, for before they were completely isolated and outside of the context of the world which went on in other places. But from this moment they could see and know about other material, human, cultural and religious realities.

Before going to the Amazon I had been in a parish and a college. In the parish I learnt pastoral duties, the importance of evangelization, the feasts and the sacraments. In the college how to organize work groups of people, the distribution of subjects, teaching discipline, sports practice and secretarial organization, documentation and teaching. All of this was very useful when I came to the Amazon with education as the most important job, and evangelization as a task starting from nothing.

Already in Canutama the Mayor named me as Director of Education, and I took on the job calmly and obtained four teachers from Manaus. I also made the arrangements for the visit of the Department of Education for the Amazon State to the region. This later allowed me to organize and obtain educational help in Tapaua, like registering the Dom José Alvarez School, contracting the missionaries as teachers, the arrival of school supplies…

I not only helped, I also learnt a lot from the solidarity, simplicity, and especially the patience that I had to exercise. It was all about a suffering people who trusted in God’s action, in his providence and goodness. Nothing stopped our work, not even the risk of illness and accidents, where medical assistance could only be reached only after five long days’ journey on the Purus.

I will never forget those years in Tapaua. I am very grateful for living among those people with their love and respect for the missionaries, that planted and today continue to plant seeds of unity, citizenship, love, solidarity, and humility from the recognition of the importance of God in life. I would ask that they continue working to improve every day, to grow at every step, always like a family.

I send a special greeting to our Apurinã brothers, who gave me the name of Chiricari: do not forget friar Enéas, do not forget Chiricari. Another word of charity also for the Oblates in their work. Also congratulations to all the people in Tapaua, for their faith and devotion to Saint Rita of Casia. May God bless you all.

NEXT PAGE: 15. Witnesses: Francisco Pierola

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