Fr. João de Deus Costa Jorge

Father João de Deus Costa Jorge was born on December 9, 1958 and was 62 years old. He took his first vows on October 7, 1979 and was ordained priest on July 12, 1987.

He was currently living in Espinho (Portugal). He belonged to the Province POR.

Do not let your hearts be troubled. You trust in God, trust also in me. (Jn 14:1)

João de Deus Costa Jorge was born on 9 December 1958, in the parish of Olo, Amarante, a parish of the Diocese of Porto, where he was baptized on 1 January 1959.

At the age of 12, he entered the Father Dehon Missionary Seminary, where he began his initial formation with the Dehonians. He professed his vows on 7 October 1979 and made his perpetual profession on 29 September 1985. Having finished his licentiate in theology in 1986, he left the same year for Rome where he began a second cycle of higher studies in psychology at the Pontifical Salesian University.

He was ordained priest on 12 July 1987 by the then Bishop of Porto, D. Júlio Tavares Rebimbas. He returned to Portugal in 1990 after the successful completion of his specialization in psychology and dedicated himself to youth and vocational pastoral work, being a reference in the psycho-pedagogical support to the various formation plans in the Portuguese Province of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In 1992, he began his teaching profession at the Catholic University of Portugal, which he gradually reconciled with parish pastoral activity, highlighting his presence in the parish community of Sobrosa, Paredes, Diocese of Porto, from 1996 until 2013. In 2013, he requested due dispensation to begin a process of leaving the Congregation and of incardination in the Diocese of Porto. For this reason, he was appointed, since then, as pastor of the parishes of Guetim (Santo Estêvão) and Anta (São Martinho) by the Apostolic Administrator of Porto, D. Pio Alves. These both parishes belong to the Vicariate of Espinho-Ovar, a service he performed even when in 2020; he was diagnosed with a severe oncological condition.

The news of his death came in the early evening of 11 March 2021, when it was confirmed that the recent infection with COVID-19 had considerably worsened his health condition