The Catholic Church is investigating the possible beatification of Jules de Lombaerde, a missionary from Beveren-Leie near Waregem. In our country, only a dozen people have currently been beatified or canonized.
Jules de Lombaerde was born in 1878 in Beveren-Leie. He attended the normal school in Torhout and was ordained as a priest in 1908. Four years later he left for Brazil as a missionary. There he took the name Júlio Maria. He worked in remote areas of the Amazon rainforest, where he was committed to pastoral work, catechesis and education. De Lombaerde died in 1944 after a traffic accident.
