Irmã Dulce Pontes

Who was Irmã Dulce Pontes?

The Blessed Irmã Dulce Pontes, S.M.I.C., was a Brazilian Catholic Franciscan Sister who was the founder of the Obras Sociais Irmã Dulce also known as the Charitable Works Foundation of Sister Dulce. Her work with the poor population in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, has made her a candidate for sainthood in the Catholic Church. On 22 May 2011, she was beatified with papal approval by Cardinal Geraldo Majella Agnelo.

She was recently named the most admired woman in the history of Brazil by Estado de São Paulo newspaper and the most influential religious person in Brazil, during the 20th century, by "Isto É" magazine. In 1949, she started caring for the poorest of the poor in her convent's chicken yard. Today, more than 3,000 people arrive every day at this same site to receive free medical treatment. Sister Dulce also established CESA, a school for the poor in Simões Filho, one of the most impoverished cities in the Metropolitan Region of Salvador and in the State of Bahia.

At the time of her death in 1992, Sister Dulce had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, she had received two personal audiences with Pope John Paul II, and she had, almost single-handedly, created one of the largest and most respected philanthropic organizations in Brazil.