Benigna Cardoso da Silva
Brazilian martyr and blessed
Feast: 24 October (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
The Vatican record
- 2 October 2019 — Martyrdom recognised (decree list, 2019)
Who they were
Benigna Cardoso da Silva was born on 15 October 1928 at Santana do Cariri, Brazil. Before she was one her father died, and soon after her mother. She grew up a devout student, went to Mass and joined in parish life.
At twelve she was pestered by an older boy and, on her parish priest's advice, firmly resisted. On 24 October 1941, aged thirteen, she was murdered for refusing him. The priest wrote in her baptismal record that she died a martyr.
The miracles
As a martyr, beatified without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
A girl who kept her heart for Christ and gave her life rather than sin.
The cause
The cause continues. No postulation address is published here yet. Favours received through this person’s intercession, and offers of help, are best sent to the religious order or congregation they belonged to, or to the diocese where the cause was opened; either will pass them to the postulation.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography: Benigna Cardoso da Silva
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints — promulgated decrees (causesanti.va), summarised in our own words
- Wikidata Q56347190 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Benigna Cardoso da Silva (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.