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Amélia Ritter dos Reis

Photo courtesy of Brazilian White Center - UNASP.

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Reis, Amélia Ritter dos (1894–1991)

By The Brazilian White Center – UNASP

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The Brazilian White Center – UNASP is a team of teachers and students at the Brazilian Ellen G. White Research Center – UNASP at the Brazilian Adventist University, Campus Engenheiro, Coelho, SP. The team was supervised by Drs. Adolfo Semo Suárez, Renato Stencel, and Carlos Flávio Teixeira. Bruno Sales Gomes Ferreira provided technical support. The following names are of team members: Adriane Ferrari Silva, Álan Gracioto Alexandre, Allen Jair Urcia Santa Cruz, Camila Chede Amaral Lucena, Camilla Rodrigues Seixas, Daniel Fernandes Teodoro, Danillo Alfredo Rios Junior, Danilo Fauster de Souza, Débora Arana Mayer, Elvis Eli Martins Filho, Felipe Cardoso do Nascimento, Fernanda Nascimento Oliveira, Gabriel Pilon Galvani, Giovana de Castro Vaz, Guilherme Cardoso Ricardo Martins, Gustavo Costa Vieira Novaes, Ingrid Sthéfane Santos Andrade, Isabela Pimenta Gravina, Ivo Ribeiro de Carvalho, Jhoseyr Davison Voos dos Santos, João Lucas Moraes Pereira, Kalline Meira Rocha Santos, Larissa Menegazzo Nunes, Letícia Miola Figueiredo, Luan Alves Cota Mól, Lucas Almeida dos Santos, Lucas Arteaga Aquino, Lucas Dias de Melo, Matheus Brabo Peres, Mayla Magaieski Graepp, Milena Guimarães Silva, Natália Padilha Corrêa, Rafaela Lima Gouvêa, Rogel Maio Nogueira Tavares Filho, Ryan Matheus do Ouro Medeiros, Samara Souza Santos, Sergio Henrique Micael Santos, Suelen Alves de Almeida, Talita Paim Veloso de Castro, Thais Cristina Benedetti, Thaís Caroline de Almeida Lima, Vanessa Stehling Belgd, Victor Alves Pereira, Vinicios Fernandes Alencar, Vinícius Pereira Nascimento, Vitória Regina Boita da Silva, William Edward Timm, Julio Cesar Ribeiro, Ellen Deó Bortolotte, Maria Júlia dos Santos Galvani, Giovana Souto Pereira, Victor Hugo Vaz Storch, and Dinely Luana Pereira.

 

 

First Published: January 29, 2020

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Amélia Ritter dos Reis was the wife of the first Brazilian Adventist pastor, José Amador dos Reis, and was his partner in ministry. She was born on February 25, 1894, in the city of Taquara, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.1 Her parents, Henrique Ritter and Carolina Cruze, who were German immigrants, converted to Adventism in 1908 and contributed to the establishment of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Brazil. Amélia had a brother named Germano, who was also an Adventist pioneer.2

In 1908, a bible conference series of meetings took place in the city of Taquara. Amélia and her family attended, were converted to the Adventist faith, and were baptized by Pastor John Lipke.3 Amélia lived in her hometown until her youth, when she met José Amador dos Reis.4 In 1914, the young man had moved to Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, with the goal of holding evangelistic campaigns in that city.5 At that time, Amélia and José began to know each other, dated for a short time, and married on September 21 of that same year.6 Amélia started to accompany and support José, who, in 1920, became the first Brazilian Adventist pastor to be ordained.7 Shortly after they got married, Amélia became pregnant. The couple’s only son, Romeu Ritter dos Reis, was born on July 8, 1915, in the city of Candelária, Rio Grande do Sul.8

Even though Amélia did not occupy any official post in the church, she was an equal partner in ministry with her husband. José became ill twice, first with smallpox and then with tuberculosis, which he could not overcome and which caused his death in 1935. During the length of her husband’s illnesses, the burden of pastoral ministry and evangelism rested solely on Amélia, who cared for her ill husband at the same time.9 Sometime after her husband’s death, she married Pastor Henrique Ruhe.10

Amélia Ritter dos Reis died on January 2, 1991, when she was 92 years old, in the city of Taquara. She was buried in the Pioneers’ Cemetery in Rolante, Rio Grande do Sul state.11

Sources

“Amélia Ritter dos Reis.” Centro Nacional Da Memoria Adventista. September 23, 2013. Accessed April 7, 2018. http://www.memoriaadventista.com.br/wikiasd/index.php?title=Am%C3%A9lia_Ritter_dos_Reis.

“Germano Ritter.” Historia. Accessed April 7, 2018. https://www.unasp.br/bibliotecas/biblioteca-pr-germano-ritter/historia/.

Gross, Renato. Instituto Adventista Paranaense: Uma história em três tempos 1939-2009. Ivatuba, PR: Parana Adventist College, 2009.

Oliveira, Gideon de. “José Amador dos Reis.” Revista Adventista. October 1950. Accessed April 7, 2018. http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br/capas.cpb.

Reis, José Amador dos. Autobiography. National Ellen G. White Research Center Archive/Ellen G. White Research Center: UNASP-EC, Engenheiro Coelho, SP. Bookcase: 2. Shelf: 14. Folder: “Reis, José Amador dos.” Accessed April 7, 2018.

Reis, Romeu R. dos. “Amélia Ritter dos Reis.” Revista Adventista. April 1991. Accessed April 7, 2018. http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br/capas.cpb.

Schmidt, Ivan. José Amador dos Reis: pastor e pioneiro. Santo André, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 1980.

Notes

  1. Romeu R. dos Reis, “Amélia Ritter dos Reis,” Revista Adventista, April 1991, accessed April 7, 2018, http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br/capas.cpb; “Germano Ritter,” Historia, accessed April 7, 2018, https://www.unasp.br/bibliotecas/biblioteca-pr-germano-ritter/historia/.↩

  2. “Germano Ritter,” Historia, accessed April 7, 2018. https://www.unasp.br/bibliotecas/biblioteca-pr-germano-ritter/historia/; Renato Gross, Instituto Adventista Paranaense: Uma história em três tempos 1939-2009 (Ivatuba, PR: Paraná Adventist College, 2009), 60.↩

  3. Gross, 60.↩

  4. Ivan Schmidt, José Amador dos Reis: pastor e pioneiro (Santo André, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 1980), 26.↩

  5. Ibid., 24.↩

  6. Ibid., 26.↩

  7. Information from José Amador dos Reis’s autobiography (National Adventist Memory Center Archive/Ellen G. White Research Center: UNASP-EC, Engenheiro Coelho, SP); R. R. dos Reis, “Amélia Ritter dos Reis,” Revista Adventista, year 87, no. 4, April, 1991, 34.↩

  8. Gideon de Oliveira, “José Amador dos Reis: Um Herói no Brasil,” Revista Adventista, October, 1950, accessed April 7, 2018, http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br/capas.cpb.↩

  9. Romeu R. dos Reis, “Amélia Ritter dos Reis,” Revista Adventista, April 1991, accessed April 7, 2018, http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br/capas.cpb.↩

  10. “Amélia Ritter dos Reis,” Centro Nacional Da Memoria Adventista, September 23, 2013, accessed April 7, 2018, http://www.memoriaadventista.com.br/wikiasd/index.php?title=Am%C3%A9lia_Ritter_dos_Reis.↩

  11. Romeu R. dos Reis, “Amélia Ritter dos Reis,” Revista Adventista, April 1991, accessed April 7, 2018, http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br/capas.cpb.↩

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UNASP, The Brazilian White Center –. "Reis, Amélia Ritter dos (1894–1991)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. January 29, 2020. Accessed November 28, 2024. https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=4GNH.

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UNASP, The Brazilian White Center –. "Reis, Amélia Ritter dos (1894–1991)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. January 29, 2020. Date of access November 28, 2024, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=4GNH.

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UNASP, The Brazilian White Center – (2020, January 29). Reis, Amélia Ritter dos (1894–1991). Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. Retrieved November 28, 2024, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=4GNH.

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