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Simão Bororo

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Simão Bororo was born in Meruri on 27 October 1937 and was baptized on 7 November. He was a member of the Bororo group that accompanied the Salesian missionaries in the first missionary residence among Xavantes, in the mission of St. Therese, (1957-58). He helped in the construction of the first brick houses for the Bororo families in Meruri (1962-64), becoming an expert mason and dedicating his life to this profession. He was mortally wounded in an attempt to defend the life of Fr Lunkenbein on 15 July 1976. Before his death he forgave his killers.

The priestly motto that Fr Rodolfo Lunkenbein had chosen for his ordination was: "I have come to serve and give my life." In his last visit to Germany in 1974, his mother begged him to be careful because she had been informed of the risks that her son ran. He answered, "Mom, why are you worried? There is nothing more beautiful than dying for the cause of God. This would be my dream."

With their sacrifice, Fr Lunkenbein and Simão Bororo have witnessed that there is Somebody among us who is stronger than evil, stronger than those who derive profit from the lives of the poor, those who crush others with their arrogance ... Martyrs do not live for themselves, do not fight to assert their own ideas, and they accept having to die only for their loyalty to the Gospel. One is amazed at the strength with which they have dealt with their trial. This strength is a sign of the great hope that animated them: the certain hope that nothing and no one could separate them from the love of God donated to us in Jesus Christ.

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