By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
We’re stoked. Last month the Vatican advanced the causes for beatification for an avid surfer and a skateboard enthusiast. Both were in their 30s when they died.
Guido Vidal Schaffer, born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 22, 1974, was a doctor, a surfer and surf instructor who always led his students in prayer before getting in the water.
Guido Vidal Schaffer
He died in a surfing accident in Rio de Janeiro May 1, 2009. He was in his final year in the seminary, studying to be a priest.
According to Catholic News Service, he was one of nine candidates for sainthood for whom Pope Francis signed decrees May 20 in recognition that they heroically lived Christian virtues.
And OSV News reports that Spain’s Madrid Archdiocese is pressing for the beatification of Spanish bank employee and skateboarder Ignacio Echeverria Miralles de Imperial, who was killed at age 39 trying to save passers-by with his skateboard during an Islamist terror attack in London.
According to the Guido Schaffer website, Schaffer worked alongside Mother Teresa’s Missionary Sister of Charity bringing his medical skills in service to the poor.
After reading the book “The Brother of Assisi,” he decided to follow the call to the priesthood.
“He founded several prayer groups, and was a tireless preacher of the Word of God,” his website said. “Wherever he went, he enthused people with his great love for Jesus, for the Virgin Mary and for our holy church. He wasted not a minute drawing young people to God through his deep and radical quest for holiness.”
Schaffer attended World Youth Days in Canada in 2002 and Germany in 2005.
“He was very sensitive toward others and was a man of great faith and was passionate for the word of God,” said Father Roberto Lopes, episcopal vicar for the causes of saints in the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, in a 2014 Catholic News Agency story on the initiation of his cause.
“On the day of his burial, the Church of Our Lady of Copacabana was filled with bishops, priests and many believers who saw him as a young man who was different and deeply loved God,” he said.
The fame of his holiness spread, and on Jan. 17, 2015, the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro opened its beatification process. The documentation for his cause was forwarded to the Vatican on Oct. 8, 2017.
In Brazil he is known as the “Anjo Surfista,” or “Surfer Angel.”
In 2018, the place where he drowned was renamed Guido Beach.
Ignacio Echeverria Miralles de Imperial
Juan Carlos Mollejo, the postulator for Echeverria’s cause, said, “the gesture he made in jeopardizing his own life for others forces us to ask questions. How important are the people closest to us, and those we come across on a daily basis? Can we do something for them, even if this means forgetting about ourselves?”
Echeverria was a lawyer for HSBC bank in London’s financial district when he witnessed the attack at south London’s Borough Market while cycling home with friends on June 3, 2017. He immediately intervened, using his skateboard as a weapon.
Although he drew the attackers away from a random French victim, enabling her to escape, Echeverria was stabbed in the back when he pressed on and attempted to save a policeman.
The rector of Echeverria’s former London parish said he had been well known as a regular Mass attender and helper and said that local Catholics also were ready to testify in his cause.
“His faith was obviously very important to him — while he didn’t draw attention to himself, he was a strong presence here,” Father Keith Stoakes, from the Church of Sts. Mary and Joseph in Poplar, told OSV News.
The Madrid Archdiocese’s episcopal delegate for saints’ causes, Msgr. Albert Fernandez, told OSV News that canon law places jurisdiction in the beatification process with London’s Southwark Archdiocese as the place where Echeverria died, but said the Vatican had been asked to transfer it to Madrid so the process could formally begin.
“Ignacio is a thoroughly contemporary person for modern times,” the postulator Mollejo said, “who had trouble with his studies and with finding a job, and also liked sports and helped his friends. Many people are already testifying they feel an affinity with him as someone who experienced the same life difficulties.”
Eight people were killed and 48 injured in the attack by three terrorists wielding 12-inch knives until they were shot dead by police. Islamic State terrorists claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Echeverria, whose body was only identified four days later because of the loss of his wallet and telephone, was posthumously awarded the George Cross for bravery in July 2018 by the late Queen Elizabeth II.
He also was given Spain’s Order of Civil Merit for “exemplary conduct” by King Felipe VI and has skate parks named after him in Alicante, Madrid and Malaga.
A prayer for his intercession, describing him as a “skateboard hero” and “example of generosity, especially for young people,” was approved by Cardinal Osoro in 2022, while his former school and a street in Madrid’s Las Rozas suburb also have been renamed after him.
Jonathan Luxmoore of OSV News contributed to this story.
