Heralds of the Gospel founder dies at 85 

Sao Paulo, Brazil, Nov 4, 2024 / 14:55 pm

Monsignor João Scognamiglio Clá Dias, founder of the Heralds of the Gospel, died in the early morning hours of Nov. 1 at the age of 85, according to a statement from the organization.

“As founder of the Heralds of the Gospel, he leaves a legacy of sanctity of life for millions of Catholics linked to the institution” on five continents, the Heralds of the Gospel said in the statement.

João Scognamiglio Clá Dias was born on Aug. 15, 1939, in São Paulo. On July 7, 1956, he met professor Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, founder of the Brazilian Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property (TFP) and, according to the Heralds, “he became an ardent disciple and faithful interpreter” of Correa de Oliveira’s thought and work. 

In 1958, Clá Dias served in the Brazilian Army and received the Marechal Hermes Medal, the most distinguished military honor in training. He studied law at the Faculty of Largo São Francisco in São Paulo and then completed a doctorate in theology and canon law. He founded the Aristotelian-Thomistic Philosophical Institute and the São Tomás de Aquinas Theological Institute in addition to the scientific magazine Lumen Veritatis and the Catholic culture magazine Heralds of the Gospel.

During this period he wrote 27 works, several of which were translated into seven languages ​​and some with a circulation of more than 2 million copies, such as: “Fátima, Dawn of the Third Millennium,” “Holy Mary! The Paradise of God Revealed to Men,” “St. Joseph, Who Knows Him?”, and “What Is Unpublished About the Gospels and Life and Work of Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira.”

He also promoted the construction of churches in Brazil and other countries in America, Europe, and Africa. In 1970, based on Corrêa de Oliveira’s wishes, he wanted to establish an association of a religious nature, approved by the Church and at its service. He had an experience of community life in an old Benedictine property in São Paulo. 

In 1995, after the death of Corrêa de Oliveira, he created three entities of pontifical right: the International Private Association of Faithful Heralds of the Gospel, approved in 2001 by Pope John Paul II; the Virgo Flos Carmeli Clerical Society of Apostolic Life; and the Regina Virginum Society of Women of Apostolic Life, both approved in 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI.

Prolific ministry

In addition, he founded more than 50 choirs and orchestras and promoted the construction of almost 30 churches and oratories in Brazil and on different continents in America, Europe, and Africa.

According to the Heralds, João Clá Dias also personally directed the institutions he founded, which currently carry out their activities in more than 70 countries with the help of millions of members and followers, including priests, associate brothers, cooperators, or supporters. 

Clá Dias also spread devotion to the Virgin Mary through ceremonies of consecration to Our Lady, according to the method of St. Louis Mary Grignion de Montfort. He also instituted and encouraged perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the main houses of the institutions he founded.

On June 15, 2005, he was ordained a priest at the age of 65. In 2008 he was appointed protonotary apostolic and honorary canon of the papal basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome by Pope Benedict XVI. 

On Aug. 15, 2009, he received the “Pro Ecclesia et Pontice” medal for his zeal for the Church and the pope. That same year he published a book on the occasion of the Year for Priests, written at the request of the then-prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, Cardinal Claudio Hummes. In 2010 he published the book “The Church Is Immaculate and Indefectible,” in which he denounced the root causes of abuse committed against minors or vulnerable people.

In 2017, Clá Dias resigned from his position as president of the International Association of Heralds of the Gospel in the wake of accusations made against the organization through a video, which included a meeting between the founder of the Heralds and a group of priests who read an alleged dialogue that a priest of the institution would have had in an encounter with a supposed demon during an exorcism.

In 2019, the association received several complaints of abuse against children and adolescents that allegedly took place within the Heralds’ headquarters in Caieiras, Brazil. On July 23 of this year, the case was closed by the Court of Justice of São Paulo in the Heralds’ favor.

In its statement on the death of their founder, the Heralds indicated that since 2017 the association “has been the subject of false accusations by the enemies of the Church” and that “reestablishing the truth, Monsignor João emerged unscathed from these waves of defamation, either by benevolently accepting the judicial retractions of the accusers or by accumulating numerous procedural victories, recorded in sentences and investigatory files.”

“Thus, convinced that the biographies of providential men do not end on this earth, their spiritual children will continue their work under the protection of the Most Holy Mary, to fulfill the mission of being a link between the holy Church and civil society,” the Heralds’ statement declared.

Condolences, solidarity of Cardinal Odilo Scherer

The archbishop of São Paulo, Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer, on behalf of his archdiocese, wrote a note of condolence for the death of Clá Dias, expressing his “solidarity and consolation to the members of the Heralds of the Gospel.”

He also said that the Archdiocese of São Paulo “offers its prayers and supplications” for Clá Dias and “asks God to welcome him and reward him in eternity for his testimony of faith and his service to the mission of the Church.” 

A funeral Mass for Clá Dias was held on Sunday, Nov. 3. 

This story was first published by ACI Digital, CNA’s Portuguese-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by ACI Prensa and CNA.