“We, Franciscan Friars of Rio Grande do Sul, communicate with sadness the death of our brother, Dom Irineu Sílvio Wilges, OFM, on Thursday, 17 November 2022”.
This is the message received from the Province of St Francis of Assisi in Brazil on the death of Br Irineu, Bishop Emeritus of Cachoeira del Sul in Brazil, who died yesterday at the age of 86.
Bishop Irineu Sílvio Wilges, OFM, was born in Pinheiral, Santa Cruz do Sul, on 3 October 1936. From 1949 to 1953, he completed his primary and secondary education at the Seraphic Seminary São Francisco in Taquari, RS. In 1956 he made his novitiate in the Friary of St Bonaventure in Daltro Filho, which at the time belonged to Garibaldi, RS. He studied philosophy in the same friary from 1957 to 1958. His theological studies took place in the Friary of Saint Anthony of Divinópolis, MG, from 1959 to 1962. During this time, in February 1960, he made his solemn profession, and two years later, at the hands of Bishop Cristiano Frederico Portela de Araújo Pena Portela, he received the Order of Diaconate in Divinópolis, MG. On 15 July 1962, he was ordained a priest, in Divinópolis, by Bishop Cristiano himself.
After formation, he held various posts in the Order, including General Definitor of the Order (1985-1991), Provincial (1983-1985), Vicar Provincial (1978-1984), Provincial Definitor (1972-1975), Master of postulants and theology students, Professor and formator in the Franciscan Seminary in Cairo, Egypt, Chaplain to the Poor Clares. He was also a professor and formator in the Seminary for Religious, professor of Theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio do Sul, parish priest, assistant of the JAC (Catholic Agricultural Youth), vicar of various parishes, student for a master’s in theology at the Villa Franciscana.
Irineu was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Cachoeira do Sul by Pope John Paul II on 14 June 2000 and was consecrated on 12 August 2000 by Franciscan Cardinal Alosísio Lorscheider. After almost 12 years of the episcopate, due to age, Bishop Irineu Sílvio Wilges became Bishop Emeritus, residing in the Monte Alverne Fraternity of Porto Alegre in Brazil.
We entrust him to the Lord, praying for his soul to be received into the eternal peace of good and faithful servants.
