Pita, Plácido da Rocha (1911–1982)

Plácido da Rocha Pita, pastor, canvasser and evangelist, was born on March 22, 1911, in the rural district of Aguapé, near the city of Batalha (about 190 km from Maceió), state of Alagoas, Brazil. The first of seven children born to José Pedro da Rocha Pita, a cowboy of humble conditions, and Adelina Carvalhal Reis, a middle class girl from the city of Penedo, Alagoas.¹

He was literate in his hometown and later continued his studies in Penedo, to where the family had moved.² At 16 years of age, 1927, he left home to Aracaju, state of Sergipe, in search of better living conditions. There he began working as an auxiliary at a stable, in addition to selling milk.³ One of his daily clients was Dona Francisca, a lady who was learning more about the Seventh-day Adventist Church. At her invitation he received some Bible instruction from Pastor João Meier, which was his first contact with this religion. Furthermore, she encouraged him to become part of the Sergipe police.⁴

As part of the police, he participated in hunting expeditions to catch Virgulino Ferreira da Silva. Also known as rei do cangaço (king of the bandits), he is considered the most successful leader of the political and social movement called “Cangaço”, that took place in Northeast of Brazil from 1918 to 1938, in name of revenge against the lack of jobs, food and social rights. The hunting expeditions took place between 1928 and 1932.⁵

Some of the events witnessed by Pita shook his spirituality and impelled him to seek a more peaceful life, aligned with the Christian faith he had learned in childhood from his Catholic family. As a first step, he joined the fire department in 1935 and started attending the First Baptist Church of Aracaju, after watching the sermon of an ex-priest from São Paulo. However, he soon became discouraged with this church, considering that he did not feel accepted by the members.⁶

In 1936, Plácido met Cecília Meneses Just, who was 20 years old at the time. By the time of their engagement Cecília told him that she was studying the Bible and was interested in becoming a Seventh-day Adventist. After explaining to him about the Sabbath and other distinguishing points in Adventism, he joined her at the local Adventist church services. The church had approximately 30 members and was led by an elder, since they had no pastor. However, his job required him to work on Saturdays, so Pita was prevented from going to church on this day. From then on, he began a gradual process of changing habits, such as abandoning alcoholic beverages and returning tithe. They got married on February 6, 1937 and had nine children together, of which three became church workers.⁷

Even before being baptized, Pita and his wife started an evangelistic effort that resulted in the baptism of 12 people.⁸ Pita himself was baptized on April 13, 1940, on the banks of the Cotinguiba River, state of Sergipe, by Pastor Daniel Feder. At this point he had already asked for exclusion from the fire department in order to keep the Sabbath and decided to contact the canvassing director of the East Brazil Union, which resulted in his joining the canvassing career.⁹

His first place of work was the city of Propriá, state of Sergipe, to where he moved his family from Aracaju. Saturnino Mendes de Oliveira taught him sales methods and assisted him for a while until returning to Salvador, state of Bahia. Despite the failure in converting people at Propriá, he remedied an epidemic of Tungiasis in the cities at the mouth of the São Francisco River. Of much value was his reading of Vida e Saúde health magazine, which instructed that this disease can be cured by soaking the sick person’s feet in kerosene.¹⁰

In 1941 Pita returned to Aracaju which by mid-1942, 18 people embraced Adventism from five different cities in Sergipe, besides the capital. During war time they faced many difficulties, but were also refreshed by evidences of God’s providence.¹¹ In 1946, Pita moved with his family to Juazeiro, state of Bahia. Their evangelistic work was fruitful, and the conversion of a Pentecostal “prophet” named Ana Gonçalves led 22 people from her church to embrace the Adventist faith. The local Adventist community, which met in a rented hall, now had approximately 45 members.¹² Later Pita was responsible for building the local church.¹³ In addition, his canvassing work was fruitful in nearby cities such as Casa Nova, Santa Sé and Remanso. Upon leaving Juazeiro, he left a congregation of 45 members under the care of Enoque da Rocha Medrado, former student of Brazil College (now UNASP-SP).¹⁴

In 1945 the Rio São Francisco Mission was organized, under the administration of the East Brazil Union Mission. In 1948, Plácido was appointed to open a pastoral district in the region of Barreiras, state of Bahia, where there were already some scattered groups of Adventists. The district was far-reaching and comprised in total of 16 cities.¹⁵ In 1950 he organized a church in Boa Fé, near the Grande River, which came to have almost 100 baptized members. It is interesting to note that Adventism was the first protestant church to enter this region.¹⁶ Pita served as the Barreiras district pastor for eight years, during which he was ordained to the ministry in 1951.¹⁷

Another place where the Adventist message much prospered was the city of Inhaúmas, where a church of about 120 members was built there in 1954. The initial funds for the construction were less than 10,000 cruzeiros, and had been accumulated with the help of the social assistance department of the Niterói church, the Union and the Mission. About this time, to their misfortune, the residents were stricken by barber bug fever. Thus, Plácido traveled to Belo Horizonte, state of Minas Gerais, and with the help of the local members, he brought many medicines, vitamins and tonics to Inhaúmas. This charity work ended up completely undoing the prejudice that the people had against them. Many were converted as a result of this restoration, even in later years.¹⁸

In 1955, the Rio São Francisco Mission was going through a major crisis. One of the motives was that the Mission was the only one in Brazil that didn’t have a state capital in its perimeter. In this way, Pita thought about asking the Union to transfer the Mission's headquarters to Belo Horizonte. The process depended on the endorsement of Emanoel Zorub, president of the Rio-Minas Conference, since part of his territory should be transferred. Emanoel accepted the idea on the condition that the Rio São Francisco Mission be renamed Minas Mission. Thus, the part of São Francisco that belonged to the state of Bahia returned to the Bahia and Sergipe Mission. After this change, Plácido returned from Barreiras to Juazeiro and, therefore, began working for the Bahia and Sergipe Mission.¹⁹ Pastor Antônio Pereira replaced him in the Barreiras district.²⁰

Pita continued his pastoral ministry until 1972 and, during this period, he was a district pastor in the cities of Floresta Azul, Vitória da Conquista, Santa Inês, Milagres and at last Feira de Santana. Even after his retirement, he continued holding weeks of prayer and revival, marriages, baptisms and communion ceremonies in different parts of the country.²¹

Pastor Pita died on July 23, 1982, at the age of 71, victim of a stroke that had occurred eight days before. At the time, Pita was in Salvador to start a week of prayer at the church in Brotas de Macaúbas.²² His funeral and burial took place in Aracaju, state of Sergipe.²³ Three years later, the Brazil Publishing House launched Pastor Pita's autobiography (unfinished at the time of his death) with the title, Por Que Mudei de Exército: A História de um Pioneiro do Agreste [Why I changed of army: the story of a pioneer in the Brazilian outback].²⁴

Plácido Pita's contribution to the Adventist Church was immeasurable, in view of his pioneering work in the region of rural Bahia. In total, 3,200 people were converted, and eight churches were founded in his 35 years of ministry.²⁵ Pita was honored posthumously by Bahia Conference, when in 1987 it named the Adventist School of the city of Ribeira do Pombal after his name.²⁶

Sources

“Associação Bahia Investe na Família.” Revista Adventista, year 84, n. 1, January 1988.

“Ele Brilhará na Eternidade.” Revista Adventista, year 77, n. 9, September 1982.

Morais, Cipriano. “Princesa do S. Francisco.” Revista Adventista, year 58, n. 2, February 1963.

Pita, Plácido da Rocha. Por Que Mudei de Exército. 1st edition. Santo André, SP: Casa Publicadora Brasileira, 1985.

Pita, Plácido da Rocha. Por Que Mudei de Exército. 2nd edition. Tatuí, SP: Casa Publicadora Brasileira, 2018.

Seratto, Adriana. “Pioneiro do Sertão.” Revista Adventista, year 113, n. 1337, September 2018.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1950-1952.

Notes

1. Plácido da Rocha Pita, Por Que Mudei de Exército (Tatuí, SP: Casa Publicadora Brasileira, 1985), 8-11.; “Ele Brilhará na Eternidade,” Revista Adventista, year 77, n. 9, September, 1982, 31.↩

2. Pita, 12.↩

3. Ibid., 13.↩

4. Ibid., 14, 15.↩

5. Ibid., 14, 17.↩

6. Ibid., 18.↩

7. Ibid., 20-22.↩

8. Ibid., 26.↩

9. Ibid., 32, 33.↩

10. Ibid.↩

11. Ibid., 41.↩

12. Ibid., 47-52; “Ele Brilhará na Eternidade,” 31.↩

13. Morais, Cipriano, “Princesa do S. Francisco,” Revista Adventista, year 58, n. 2, February, 1963, 26.↩

14. Pita, 56; “Ele Brilhará na Eternidade,” Revista Adventista, year 77, n. 9, September, 1982, 31.↩

15. Pita, 57-59; “Rio São Francisco Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (1951), 164; “Rio São Francisco Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1952), 164.↩

16. Pita, 65-71.↩

17. Ibid., 52-59, 110; “Rio São Francisco Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (1951), 164; “Rio São Francisco Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (1952), 164.↩

18. Pita, 91-96.↩

19. Ibid., 123, 124.↩

20. Ibid., 84.↩

21. Ibid., 161.↩

22. Pita, 162; “Ele Brilhará na Eternidade,” 31.↩

23. Pita, 162.↩

24. Pita, 4, 161; Adriana Seratto, “Pioneiro do Sertão,” Revista Adventista, year 113, n. 1337, September, 2018, 50.↩

25. “Ele Brilhará na Eternidade,” 31.↩

26. “Associação Bahia Investe na Família,” Revista Adventista, year 84, n. 1, January, 1988, 34.↩