(ANS - Manaus)- The Salesian Fr Casimir Beksta died on the evening of 21 July at the Unimed Hospital in Manaus. He was aged ninety-one. Born in Lithuania on 22 May 1924, he arrived in Brazil in the 50s and was sent to São Gabriel da Cachoeira in the far north of the state of Amazonia. “He was the last of the great missionaries among the natives of Manaus," said Fr Natale Vitali, Councillor for the Salesian Region of the American Southern Cone.

Fr Beksta spent his life with the various indigenous tribes that inhabited the region.  He was a documentary filmmaker, writer, linguist, intellectual and supporter of the indigenous movements. His work led him to coordinate the Pastoral Ministry for Indigenous Affairs of the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops (CNBB) and turned it into one of the most important forces in the creation of the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI), which was founded in the 70s.

As an orphan he left Lithuania, then part of the Soviet Union, at the age of eighteen and arrived in Germany. He was deeply religious and entered the seminary hoping to go to India. Following an invitation from a bishop, he arrived in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in 1950 and in December 1951 he was transferred to Amazonia.

He studied theology at the Pius XI Institute in Sao Paulo. After priestly ordination he became a missionary in Upper Rio Negro, where he traversed the Amazon forest in search of villages and isolated communities. His mission covered almost the whole area of ​​Rio Negro and its tributaries, such as Yauaretê, Tiquié and São Gabriel da Cachoeira.

He was Professor of Social Sciences at Cenesch, the Centre for Studies on Human Behaviour in Manaus for thirty-six years. His work received wide international acclaim. As a cultural anthropologist, Fr Beksta was a point of reference for Amazonian ethnography, and a living library for writers, anthropologists, playwrights and teachers. He was a counsellor and scholar of indigenous mythology and cosmology, speaking several indigenous languages fluently. One of his great wishes was for a new edition of the General Dictionary of the Nheengatu Language, compiled by Fr Ermano Stradelli (1852-1926), a classic of Amazonian ethnography.

His collections – the notes, film clips and instruments he carried with him – are now a rich heritage of the Salesian province of Manaus. A partial summary of his life, the work of the Salesian missions in the Amazon and the process of colonization of the indigenous peoples can be seen in the documentary "CASIMIRO", directed by Erlan Souza and Fernanda Bizarria.

Published 24/07/2015