SW News: Perhaps, it is providential that in the Year of St Joseph, the Holy Father has authorized the promulgation of a decree ratifying the heroic virtues of a Brazilian child, who was the youngest ardent devotees of the foster father of Jesus in the 20th century. With the promulgation of the decree, Servant of God Odette Vidal de Oliveira, who died at the age of nine in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, will be declared Venerable soon, bringing her a step closer to sainthood. The fact that the authorization was given on the day of her demise makes it all the more special.

Affectionately called Odetinha by her parents, Odette was born in Rio de Janeiro’s Madureira suburb on September 15, 1930. At a very tender age, she displayed extraordinary piety, purity and charity. She frequently attended Holy Mass with her mother and had a deep love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. When she turned four, she began to have mystical, intimate conversations with the Lord in the Holy Eucharist.

Her family moved to Botafogo south of Rio where she prepared herself for her First Communion. On the feast of the Assumption in 1937, she received the Lord for the first time. From then on, she used to say “Oh my Jesus, come now into my heart!” whenever she received Communion. This was later testified by her confessor.

In spite of her tender age, she manifested extreme piety and a deep love for the poor. Odette also prayed the rosary daily and had total confidence in Our Lady. She also had an extraordinary devotion to St Joseph and used to say often that He was not being given enough attention. At the age of nine, she contracted meningitis that left her in great pain. Even then, she offered Christ her suffering for the missons and poor children. On November 25, 1939, she received Holy Communion at 7.30 am and said, “My Jesus, my love, my life, my everything” and peacefully slept in the Lord at 8.20 am.

Her body was laid to rest in the Cemetery of St John the Baptist in Botafogo. It was the spontaneous healing of a serious hemorrhage of a woman after giving birth through the intercession of Odetinha that was recognized by the Church as a miracle.