Father Carlos was born in Fundada-Vila de Rei (Portugal) on December 28, 1928 the son of Eugénio Da Silva Pires and Maria Luisa Dias.  After a career gilding chapels and altars he entered the Congregation in 1951.  He made his religious profession in 1957 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1963.  After a year of pastoral work in Campolide-Lisboa he was appointed spiritual director of the seminary in Fatima – a position he held until 1969.  He was a man of great congeniality and openness to seminarians.  His friendly, cheerful and affable personality made him much sought after as a spiritual director and mentor. 

From 1969 until 1972 he was a parish priest in Campolide where he was esteemed by young people for his openness to everyone who approached him.  During this time the parish house hosted a small group of seminarians who were studying philosophy at the Catholic University.

From 1972 until 1989 and then from 1996 until his death, Father Carlos was the director of Fatima’s Hotel Pax where he came into contact with pilgrims from all parts of the world – especially Italy.

During his career as a missionary Father Carlos was superior of the Regional House in Lisbon (1990-1993) and the seminary community in Fatima (1993-1996).  He was devoted to Our Lady and loved the liturgy;  he gave ten years of his life to working at the Hotel Pax as its director.  During that time he promoted the liturgy at the Shrine in Fatima.

On July 8, 2005 in the Coimbra hospital he suffered cardiac arrest provoked by a tumor and returned to Our Father’s House.  He was 76 years old, professed 48 years and ordained 42. 

He wrote an entry in his diary on December 28, 2004: “I have been thinking about the state of my spiritual life and my health.  I am in good shape but there is still much work to be done to prepare for my departure.”  And a few days before his death he wrote: “I would like to have Easter songs sung at my funeral Mass.  This will be the most solemn moment of my life.  It is a celebration of ‘transition’  and final encounter with the Lord.  It should be an occasion of joy and not mourning.  I am serene at present and anticipate with much joy the celebration of my ‘transition.’”

His funeral was an occasion of grief, friendship and faith.  The wake lasted 24 hours during which many came, prayed and spent time with his body: relatives, friends, priests, religious, personnel from the Fatima Sanctuary and innkeepers.  The Bishop of Leiria and Fatima, Msgr.  Serafim was not able to attend the funeral but he presided at a concelebration with Father Carlos’ body present;  he preached a very moving sermon to the large number of people attending the service.

The funeral was held on Sunday, July 10 at 3 PM.  Some seventy priests concelebrated including the Rector of the Sanctuary of Fatima.  Msgr. João Alves, the Bishop Emeritus of Coimbra presided – he was an old friend of Father Carlos and of the Consolata Missionaries since his pastorate in Setúbal.  He now lives permanently in the Hotel Pax.  Our Church was too small to accommodate the large crowd and the many floral tributes.  Father Norberto Louro, the Regional Superior, officiated at the service.  Now Father Carlos is resting  in the Fatima cemetery along side so many other Portuguese Consolata Missionaries.

Father Norberto Louro

TESTIMONIALS

Endearing Simplicity

What I most appreciated in Father Carlos was his simplicity, his openness to everybody, his kindness and his purity.  He was a pure soul.  His wisdom didn’t come from books – it came directly from God.  People felt that he spoke to their heart and could give the right answer at the right time.  He was more than a friend to me: he was a confidant – a true confessor and spiritual director. People opened their hearts and trusted him with their most intimate secrets.  Whenever I was sad or facing a problem I would go and talk to him – it always helped. 

His simplicity was endearing and absolutely natural.  He felt no need to depend on his position of responsibility.  He was always a point of reference in my life, a light that showed the way forward.  That light has now gone out on earth, I hope it will continue to shine in heaven. 

He went peacefully.  Shortly before he died he said to me: “If you could only realize the interior light I am experiencing and the joy which your visit gives me – I can open my heart to you.”  We embraced and wept together.  I thanked him for all he had done for me during our twenty-three years of friendship and spiritual direction;  he thanked me for our closeness and intimacy in that supreme moment twenty-four hours before he died.  I left his room very moved and went immediately with some friends to celebrate Mass in the Hotel Pax chapel.  It was 11 PM;  we made the Stations of the Cross and prayed together all night long.

Fr. Luis Oliveira Ribeiro Pereira
Montfort Missionaries – Fatima

In Memory of Father Carlos Pires

The Lord called him and Father Carlos left us.  His departure left many in great sadness – people who knew and worked with him in his service to Our Lady of Fatima.  He was always close to these people whom he loved.  He has left those of us who worked closely with him at the Hotel Pax – we always thought of him as more a friend than a boss. 

He was always grateful to those who worked with him in and outside the institution.  I often heard him say, “Our Founder told us ‘never tire of thanking those who work with us.’”  This is what he always did – he followed the Founder’s instructions.  His heart was always full of kindness for everyone.  While working at Hotel Pax I went with him to visit his relatives: brothers, cousins, etc. in Abrantes, to the house of friends in Lisbon and to the house of his godmother who helped him on his journey to the priesthood. 

After working as headwaiter at the Hotel Pax for several years I was asked to come and work at the Divine Word Missionaries’ Hotel.  I liked working at Hotel Pax and found it difficult to leave.  I only did so because it was better for my future.  Father Carlos remained a close friend even after I left.  He later offered a dinner to me and my new employers at Hotel Pax.  I still remember the words he said at that time: “The Fathers should look on Mr. James as someone worthy of their establishment.  He is not leaving us for more money but because he wants to change his line of work – this is something we understand.”  My friend, Father Carlos, was like a father to me.

Jaime Mateus
Manager of the Divine Word Hotel

In the Bosom of God

I knew Father Carlos da Silva Pires at Abrantes when he was still a seminarian.  I came into contact with him often as a co-worker at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima in Paris, where I was the Rector for several years.  Father Carlos was a man of many talents that he knew how to use.  For me he who was a genuine man, priest, missionary and saint.

A man: in his family home at Ribeira da Fundada, Vila de Rei, he learned as a child to develop his character and become a man in the truest sense of the word.  This was evident in school, at work and in his profession gilding churches and altars.  This was evident in his military service and his service as a priest and missionary.  His parents, Eugénio da Silva Pires and Maria Luísa Dias were the first ones to form his character and they formed a good man, a man of God.  His siblings, especially his older brother José Maria taught him – the youngest of eight – how to be a man.

A priest:  in contact with the Holy Eucharist and assisted by his sister-in-law, Beatriz Serras e Silva and Mrs. Maria Cristina Moura Neves, he felt a call to the priesthood.  He wanted to be a priest, a genuine priest.  The seminary, the novitiate, his superiors, his companions and the Founder – all of these contributed to his becoming an authentic priest.  From the time of his priestly ordination at the Motherhouse in Turin his spiritual and vocational goal was to be a good priest.  And this he was!  Everyone who came into contact with him as a companion, mentor, confessor or spiritual director are witnesses. 

A missionary: on his journey as a member of the Consolata Congregation Father Carlos was a true missionary.  Even if he was never sent to mission lands he was a missionary in his own community.  He was a missionary at Fatima, in the seminary, in the Hotel Pax, in the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Paris, in every place and circumstance – he was a true missionary.

A saint:  a saint is one who lives of God and in God in the depths of his heart.  Father Carlos radiated the power of God.  He left a wake of holiness everywhere he passed.  Now his mission on earth has come to an end but his mission in heaven is just beginning.  My testimonial in this time of sadness is this:  I am certain that he is interceding for us in heaven, along with Our Lady, the Consolata, Blessed Joseph Allamano and all the other missionaries of the Congregation (let me mention Father José Pequito).  He will be a source of vocations.

Happy is the congregation that produces men of the stamp of Father Carlos da Silva Pires!

Msgr. José Genro Carvalheira

Dear Consolata Missionaries,

I cannot fail to add my few, poor words to this tribute to Father Carlos.  I can hardly describe what I received from him.  The Lord has called him home but his departure has left us with the image of an intelligent man and a conscientious Father.  His intelligence was evident in the spirit of humble service, delicacy and competence with which he carried out his responsibilities.

Liturgy at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima was the apple of his eye.  He was a son of Our Lady who did his very best to praise his mother.  He never wasted time on trivia or idle chatter.  He was both keen and quick in discerning and performing his duties.   His spirit of service was characterized by silence and the subtle smile of someone comfortable with himself. 

He had a keen apostolic spirit – so subtle that one was hardly aware of it.  He could penetrate souls.  He never lost an occasion to exercise his subtle insight as a missionary – traces of his service are everywhere.  He was more a man of action than of words.  He paid close attention and was never distracted by trivial concerns.  He had a clear understanding of what was essential.

I did not have much contact with Father Carlos – but the lessons I learned from him were important and beautiful.  It is my duty to recall them.  I can with all simplicity and clarity declare my esteem for this man who served so unobtrusively and focused our attention on God.  I have many worthwhile books but the little book Father Carlos gave me on the only occasion I was in his office has never left my bedside.  He gave it to me with great simplicity saying, “take this book and read if you can.  Simple thoughts for every day of the year – the words of our Founder.  They are very simple – as are all the insights of the saints.”

“Punti di luce [Points of Light]” was the title.  May he now enjoy not just points of light but the total and complete light of the Mother he so loved.  May he obtain for us that peace the world so needs.  May he pray for vocations of total consecration to his own Missionary Congregation and to the holy Church of Jesus Christ.  For my part I give thanks to the Lord for the gift of his life and his death.  He has been subsumed in the paschal mystery.

Maria da Conceição Primitivo