Saint Andrew Wouters, “Fornicator I always was, but heretic I never was.”

St. Andrew Wouters

 Andrew Wouters was born around 1542 and became a Catholic priest, serving the village of Heinenoord in the Netherlands. His life before his martyrdom included serious failures against his priestly commitments. Accounts describe him as having fathered children and given public scandal through his relationships with women. These failures form part of his remembered history, alongside the courage with which he eventually faced death for his faith.

In 1572, the Netherlands was torn by rebellion against Spanish rule and by bitter religious conflict. Calvinist rebels known as the Sea Beggars captured Gorkum in June. They imprisoned Franciscan friars and other Catholic clergy, subjecting them to abuse. The prisoners were eventually taken to Brielle. Andrew, arrested separately, joined the company there. He would become one of the nineteen men remembered together as the Martyrs of Gorkum.

Their captors demanded that they abandon Catholic teaching concerning Christ’s presence in the Eucharist and the authority of the pope. Among the prisoners were parish priests, Franciscan priests and brothers, a Dominican, two Premonstratensians, and an Augustinian canon. Their different vocations had brought them into the same captivity. Under interrogation and threats, they continued to profess the faith that their captors demanded they surrender. Andrew stood with them.

Accounts of Andrew’s imprisonment describe his captors mocking the contradiction between his priesthood and his conduct. A saying traditionally attributed to him expresses his answer. “Fornicator I always was, but heretic I never was.” The words acknowledge his grave moral failures while declaring his refusal to renounce the Catholic faith. They have become the best remembered expression of his final resolve, although their precise wording should be treated as a traditional account.

There was an opportunity for the prisoners to be spared. William of Orange issued instructions protecting priests and religious from persecution. Nevertheless, Lumey, the commander responsible for their fate, proceeded against them. The prisoners remained steadfast in their beliefs. For Andrew, the decision had become immediate and costly. The faith he had contradicted through his conduct was now the faith he would profess at the expense of his life.

On July 9, 1572, Andrew and his eighteen companions were hanged in an outbuilding near a former monastery outside Brielle. Andrew was about thirty years old. Their deaths brought together men whose earlier lives had differed greatly, including religious of longstanding devotion and a priest remembered for scandal. The Church came to honor them together for their fidelity to Christ through imprisonment, suffering, and execution.

Pope Clement X beatified the martyrs in 1675, and Pope Pius IX canonized them on June 29, 1867. Their feast is celebrated on July 9. Within Catholic tradition, Andrew’s story carries a particular hope for those burdened by their sins. His final witness is understood as a triumph of grace and conversion. The priest whose conduct had caused scandal is remembered among the saints who gave their lives for Christ.

For a devotional image of St. Andrew, click here: Maryvale Catholic Press

Saint Mateus Moreira, A Heart Faithful to the Eucharist

St. Mateus Moreira

 Mateus Moreira lived in seventeenth century Brazil, in the region now known as Rio Grande do Norte. The surviving accounts preserve little about his childhood or family. They remember him as a layman, a peasant, and a sacristan of the parish of Our Lady of the Presentation in Natal. He worked closely with its pastor, Father Ambrósio Francisco Ferro. His service placed him within a community whose worship centered on the Mass and the Eucharist.

His life unfolded amid the struggle between Portuguese and Dutch power in northeastern Brazil. Political rivalry became entangled with religious conflict between Portuguese Catholics and Dutch Calvinists. Catholic communities faced persecution, and in 1645 that hostility brought terrible violence to the region. The parish to which Mateus belonged was caught within these events. The faith practiced in its churches would soon be tested through imprisonment, suffering, and death.

On July 16, 1645, worshippers gathered for Sunday Mass in the chapel of Our Lady of the Candles at Cunhaú. Father André de Soveral was celebrating when armed attackers descended upon the congregation. Dutch soldiers and Indigenous allies took part in the massacre. Father André and many of the faithful were killed. This was the first of the two massacres through which the martyrs of Cunhaú and Uruaçu entered the Church’s memory.

News of the killings spread fear among the Catholics of Natal. People sought protection, but their refuges failed to keep them safe. Father Ambrósio and members of his community became prisoners. They were eventually taken to the vicinity of Uruaçu, where Dutch soldiers and Indigenous forces awaited them. On October 3, 1645, the prisoners suffered a second massacre. Mateus Moreira was among those killed alongside his pastor and fellow Catholics.

The account of Mateus’s death preserves a particularly cruel act. His attackers opened his body from behind and tore out his heart. Amid that suffering, he proclaimed his faith in the Eucharist. The words recorded in Portuguese are “Louvado seja o Santíssimo Sacramento,” meaning “Praised be the Most Blessed Sacrament.” These words became the defining testimony of his life, remembering his devotion to Christ at the moment of his martyrdom.

This testimony appears in an early account written by Lopo Curado Garro on October 23, 1645, only twenty days after the massacre. The account became a source for later chroniclers. Across the centuries, Mateus’s final prayer remained central to his remembrance. The sacristan who had served his parish was remembered for professing his Eucharistic faith under torture. His brief prayer gave enduring expression to the devotion for which the Church would honor him.

Mateus belonged to a much larger company of victims. The two massacres claimed more lives than the thirty people eventually included in the cause for canonization. The recognized group comprised two priests and twenty eight laypeople, including women and children. Their story preserved the witness of entire communities. Within that shared history, Mateus’s name remained closely associated with the Eucharist, while the Church investigated the circumstances and religious meaning of their deaths.

Pope John Paul II beatified the thirty martyrs on March 5, 2000, in Saint Peter’s Square. In his homily, he specifically recalled Mateus’s suffering and his profession of Eucharistic faith. On October 15, 2017, Pope Francis canonized the group in the same square. The parish sacristan of Natal was now honored throughout the Catholic Church as Saint Mateus Moreira, alongside Father Ambrósio, Father André, and their companions.

The Church in Brazil celebrates their feast on October 3. Mateus is also honored there as patron of extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. His witness gives that patronage a profound meaning. A layman who served his parish remained faithful to Christ in the Eucharist through his final suffering. His story continues to call Catholics to reverence for the Blessed Sacrament and courage in professing their faith, carrying forward the prayer preserved from his death at Uruaçu.

For a devotional image of Saint Mateus, click here:Maryvale Catholic Press