Many people came to know Sister Cleusa so there is an abundance of witness statements. Sr. María Helena Petri, the present Provincial of the Augustinian Recollect Missionary sisters in Brazil was with her at the time in Labrea. She well remembers her poverty and abandonmet to divine providence, the long hours of Eucharistic adoration, her visits to the prisoners in jail and to the lepers who were rejected by their own families. Sr. Petri emphasises in particular her presence among the indigenous people for whom she gave her life and who always saw in her their intercessor, their mother, their protector.
Sr. Cleusa Carolina Rody Coelho (1933-1985), was born in Cachoeiro de Itapemirim (Espíritu Santo, Brasil). At twenty she professed her religious vows and five months later –in March 1954- she was sent to the mission in Lábrea. After some years spent in the mission she journeyed to the city of Colatina, Espíritu Santo, where she professed her perpetual vows and then spent time in Vitoria, Manaus and Lábrea where she gave herself totally to working for God’s kingdom. In 1979 she returned to Lábrea where she was martyred in 1985.
Her anniversary was celebrated with great solemnity on the 25th of April. Her Anniversary
People prepared for the celebration of the silver jubilee of the death of Sr. Cleusa with a Triduum, that is three days of prayer and reflection, in which the various teams of pastoral workers went around the poorest and neediest bairros presenting sketches of the life of the missionary sister.
Her anniversary was celebrated with great solemnity on the 25th of April. The various communities went in procession to the chapel of our Lady of Fatima where the mortal remains of Sr. Cleusa lie buried. After the welcome and a time of fervent prayer everybody together headed for Santa Rita school. They prayed all the way and remembered sayings of Sr. Cleusa. There Jesus Moraza, bishop of Labrea presided at the Eucharist. Among the concelebrants were Dom Gutemberg Freire, emeritus bishop of the Prelature of Coari, all the Recollect missionaries in the Prelature of Labrea plus representatives of the communities of Manaus, Fortaleza and Guaraciaba together with Fr. Luis Sepi, the regional secretary of the CNBB and other Brazilian priests.