The Positio had Msgr Maurizio Tagliaferri as rapporteur, Fr Pierluigi Cameroni, SDB as Postulator, Dr Mariafrancesca Oggianu as Collaborator. Structural elements of the Positio – which is an articulated and in-depth presentation of documents and witness evidence apparatus concerning the life, martyrdom and reputation of martyrdom of the Servants of God – include a brief presentation by the Rapporteur; the Informatio super martyrio, that is, the theological part in which the material and formal martyrdom of the Servants of God is demonstrated; the two Summariums with witness and documentary evidence; the Last Sections and iconographic apparatus.
After delivery, the Positio will be examined by the Theological Consultants of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. It will be studied by the Cardinals and Bishops: these articulated stages of study and evaluation will allow the Supreme Pontiff, in the event of a positive outcome, to promulgate the Decree on the martyrdom of the Servants of God.
This news brought great joy to the Salesian Provinces of Campo Grande (Brazil) and Germany, as well as in the dioceses of Barra do Garças (Mato Grosso) and Bamberg (Germany).
Fr Rodolfo Lunkenbein, a Salesian priest, was born in Germany in Döringstadt, near Bamberg, on 1 April 1939. His parents were small farmers. Rudolph was the second of three brothers. In fifth grade, he learned about the life of Don Bosco and developed a desire to be a missionary. With the help of the parish priest, he entered the Salesian aspirantate in Buxheim. At the age of twenty he moved to the novitiate in São Paulo, Brazil, and in 1963 he undertook practical training in Meruri (Mato Grosso), on a mission among the Bororo indigenous people. From 1965 to 1969 he returned to Germany, for theological studies in Benediktenbeuern. He was ordained a priest on 29 June 1969 and immediately returned to Meruri among the locals. In 1972 he participated in the foundation of the "Indigenous Missionary Council" (CIMI), to defend the rights of indigenous populations to own a territory that guaranteed their survival. In the last three years of his life he was the Rector of the Meruri mission. In those years there were death threats from the settlers, but he continued to carry out his pastoral work until 15 July 1976, the day on which he was killed, together with layman Simão Bororo, by a group of about seventy armed "fazendeiros" (settlers).
Layman Simão Cristiano Koge Kudugodu, known as Simão Bororo, was born in Meruri (Mato Grosso, Brazil) on 28 October 1937. After elementary school, he went to work among the diamond prospectors. Returning to Meruri, in 1957 he was invited to accompany a group of missionaries among the Xavantes, in the mission in Santa Terezinha. From 1962-1964 he participated in Meruri in the construction of the first brick houses for Bororo families. He became a practical bricklayer and devoted the rest of his life to this craft, collaborating in the village and in the mission. He was mortally wounded on 15 July 1976, while trying to defend and protect the life of Salesian Fr Rodolfo Lunkenbein. He died the same day, forgiving his executioners, while a plane took him to the city hospital.
Father Lunkenbein and Simão are part of the long line of Catholic missionaries and indigenous people murdered while accompanying, evangelising and fighting with the Indians for their rights. The struggle for the defence of the earth, the peoples who inhabit it and its immense natural, cultural and spiritual riches, has been and still is fertilised by the blood of martyrs.
The priestly motto that Fr Lunkenbein chose for his ordination was: "I came to serve and give my life" (Mk 10:45), and on his last visit to Germany (1974), his mother begged him to be careful, because she had been informed of the risks that her son was running. But he replied, “Mother, why are you worried? There is nothing more beautiful than dying for God's cause. That would be my dream.”
