Monsignor Friar Louis Flavio Cappio was one of my theology students in Petropolis, in 1970 and 1971. He stood above his classmates because of his radical commitment to the poor and by his aura of simplicity and holiness. He did not turn in his final paper for the course, a thesis of more or less 30 pages. On the last day, before he was transferred to São Paulo, he slipped a page under the door of my cell, which read: «After five years of study, reflection and prayer, this is what has remained of my theology». And he transcribed in Greek, Latin and Portuguese, the Our Father, the Lord's Prayer.
Whenever I would see him, I would ask him about that paper. In 1975, on Holy Thursday, he disappeared from his convent in São Paulo. Three days later, on a lateral altar of the church, a letter he had written was found where he explained his decision to go to the poorest of the poor, to serve them in the name of the Gospels. He left with only the habit he was wearing and a copy of the Gospels. He hitched rides with truckers. Two months later, he arrived to Barra, in Bahia. With his friar's habit, his Franciscan sandals and the Gospels in hand, he preached around the shanty towns of the riverbed.
When he was found, the Provincial Superior called me on the telephone and said: «Friar Louis has gone crazy, we have to go bring him back». I replied: «Provincial Father, open the Gospel of Saint Mark and read chapter 3, verse 21: «And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay ahold on him: for they said, He is beside himself». Something like that happened to Saint Paul, who preached the cross of Christ, scandal for the Jews, madness for the Pagans and salvation for the Christians. The same with Saint Francis of Assisi when it was suggested that he follow existing monastic rules, instead of his radical identification with the poor. Francis replied to the envoy of the Pope: «God called me to follow the path of simplicity; I do not want to hear about other rules; the Lord has revealed to me his will that I be a new madman in the world». When he decided to go on a hunger strike, Dom Louis Flavio Cappio said: «When reason ends, madness is the way».
That madness is not madness: it is another form of logic, the logic of love, of creativity, it is the logic of something that is trans-systemic. If there is one who knows the Saint Francis River Valley that one is Bishop Dom Friar Louis. From 1992 to 1993 he went with a small group all over the valley, visiting the people who live in the riverbed, taking note of problems and suggesting ecological measures. Lula, in the caravan of the Saint Francis, in which I took part, received from the hands of Friar Louis all that material, highly valued by technicians.
As a spiritual man of great personal holiness, Dom Friar Louis has developed a special intuition for the issues that have to do with the poor and with the impoverishment of the «Old Little One»--as the river is fondly called. The Government talks of technical solutions. Friar Louis talks of social solutions. He is not against diverting the river. He is against the type of diversion that has not been properly discussed with those affected by it and which does not guarantee a social solution. In a world where everything is turned into merchandise and a profit opportunity, 70% of the diverted waters will serve agribusiness of exportation. The States will distribute the rest to a thirsty people. Will they do that for a price? Dom Friar Louis, in thirty years of identification with the poor of the Valley, understands where the difficulty is. He became «God's madman», a carrier of a higher wisdom.
Leonardo Boff Oct 14, 2005
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