Fr. LEOCIR PESSINI – a Camillian

(May 1955- July 2019)

Father Leocir Pessini was born on 14 May 1955 in Joaçaba, a city in the State of Santa Caterina in Brazil. His family had Italian origins.

He made his first profession as a member of the Ministers of the Sick – the Camillians – in 1975; he made his perpetual profession in 1978; and he was ordained a priest in 1980.

He always cultivated a great passion for the Camillian charism, care for the sick, the humanisation of the world of health, and teaching bioethics.

   Fr. Leocir loved to divide his biography into three great trajectories in order to identify three strong and fundamental points in the construction of his life’s journey.

The first fifteen years were completely dedicated to service to the sick (1981-1995). For the first thirteen years of this period he worked as a chaplain at the Hospital das Clinicas of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of San Paolo (Brazil).

During the second stage of this pathway, which lasted fifteen years (1995-2010), he held administrative posts as a leading figure in the university world: he was a lecturer, the scientific director of reviews (Bioetikos and O Mundo da Saúde), and he became responsible for the educational sector of the Camillian Province of Brazil in the União Social Camiliana, a body that supports the Camillian university in Brazil. During this period he also attended courses for a licence and a doctorate in moral theology and bioethics at the Faculty of Theology Nossa Senhora da Assunção of the Catholic Pontifical University of San Paolo. At the level of civil society, the Church and the government of Brazil, he held the post of national coordinator of pastoral care in health of the Bishops’ Conference of Brazil (2004-2007); he was a member of the national commission on research on human beings of the Ministry of Health of the federal government (2005-2008); and he was a consultant on bioethics for the Federal Council of Medicine (2010-2014).

The third stage of his life’s journey was characterised by service as a figure of authority for his Camillian confreres (2010-2019). There were two phases in this: first as Provincial Superior of the Camillian Province of Brazil (2010-2014) and then as Superior General of the Order of Camillians.

    In June 2014 the 48th General Chapter of the Order of Camillians elected him the Superior General of the Order, the sixtieth successor of St. Camillus de Lellis. He visited all the communities of the Order and met his confreres at all latitudes (39 nations), sharing their difficulties and hopes in the great challenge of embodying the charism of care for the sick and teaching others to do the same!

After the discovery of his illness in September 2017, he underwent treatment for some months in Rome and in March 2019 he moved to San Paolo (Brazil). The care offered by the medical doctors, the fraternity of his confreres, and the affection of his parents and his sisters accompanied him and comforted him as he moved towards his encounter with the good and merciful face of God the Father!

He died at the Camillian community of Recanto San Camillo in Granja Viana (Cotia, San Paolo, Brazil) during the night of 24 July 2019.

    His funeral will be held on Friday 26 July at 9.00 at the Church of N. Sra. do rosário de Pompéia (a historic Camillian parish), Avenida Pompéia, 1250-05022-010 San Paolo, SP (Brazil).

Fr. Leocir some time ago ended a short work of his with the following observation: ‘I feel that this phrase of the famous poet T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) is very true and profound for me: We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time’.

    We are thankful and grateful to the Lord, the God of Life, for the life and the Camillian vocation of Fr. Leocir! RIP.