Monsignor João S. Clá Dias, E.P.
Surrenders his soul to God
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race,
I have kept the Faith.
Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day”
(2 Tm 4:7-8).
A serene surrender on All Saints Day
At around 2:30 a.m. (Brazilian time), November 1, comforted by the Sacraments of the Holy Church and surrounded by his spiritual children, Msgr. João Scognamiglio Clá Dias, EP, at the age of 85 serenely surrendered his soul to God in Franco da Rocha, Greater São Paulo, after 14 years of sufferings resulting from a cerebrovascular accident.
The Journey of a Great Vocation
He was born in São Paulo, Brazil, on August 15, 1939. Disciple and faithful interpreter of the thought and work of Dr. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, he realized long-cherished desires of his teacher and inspirer. He founded the Private Association of the Faithful Heralds of the Gospel, approved in 2001 by Pope John Paul II, and the Societies of Apostolic Life Virgo Flos Carmeli and Regina Virginum, approved by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009.
He studied Law at the Largo São Francisco Faculty in São Paulo, and obtained doctorates in Theology and Canon Law. Not only that, he wrote 27 works – several of them translated into seven languages and some with a publication of over 2 million copies. With zeal to spread the Gospel, he promoted the construction of churches in Brazil and other countries of the Americas, Europe and Africa. Under his guidance and direction, the institutions he founded today carry out their activities in over 70 countries, with millions of members and adherents, including priests, associated brothers and sisters, cooperators or participants in solidarity.
Triumphant through the tempests
Since 2017 the Heralds of the Gospel have been the object of false denunciations and unjust accusations of fake scandals by enemies of the Church and the good. Reasserting the truth, Msgr. João traversed these waves of defamation unscathed, whether benignantly accepting judicial retractions from the accusers, or garnering innumerable legal victories, sealed by sentences and conclusions of inquiry.
Thus, certain that the lives of providential men do not end on this earth, his spiritual children will carry on his work under the protection of Mary Most Holy, in order to fulfill the mission of being a link between the Holy Church and civil society.
