Heinrich Pages, Johannes Augusto (1866–1946)

Johannes Augusto Heinrich Pages was an administrator and pioneer of publication work in Brazil.

Early Life, Education, and Marriage

Johannes Augusto Heinrich Pages was born in Itzehoe, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, on August 27, 1866. He spent his childhood in Wandsbek, Hamburg. After finishing elementary and high school, he was confirmed as a member in the Lutheran Church in 1883 and joined the Wandsbek Evangelical Youth Association. In his youth, he desired to be an apprentice mechanic but, due to his physical constitution, was not accepted in any workshop in the city. Thus, he initially worked in a luxury goods store and, in 1888, accepted a proposal to work in the main office of an alcoholic drink industry in Wandsbek.¹

Two years later, he married Guilhermina Broecker, and the following year, they moved to Eilbek, a region that was part of Wandsbeck. On August 1892, while his wife was pregnant with their second daughter, a cholera outbreak reached the region. Faced with the fear of contracting the disease and losing their lives, he asked God in prayer to spare them and promised to serve Him if God would spare their lives.

Early Work and Baptism

Johannes Augusto Heinrich Pages received an invitation to work in a series of Bible conferences that would begin on October 9, 1892, under the mentorship of J. Boettcher, E. Frauchiger, and Jeschke in a hotel of the city. Augusto watched the conferences attentively. Shortly after, he was granted the right to abstain from working on Saturdays for religious reasons.

Augusto started observing the seventh day of the week in December 1892.² After accepting the Adventist message, he felt a great desire to convey it to all the members of the Evangelical Association of Wandsbek, of which he was a member. When he recognized their lack of interest, he decided to write a 20-page letter. Then he had the idea to publish it as a brochure so that the message could spread. Augusto contacted Gerhard Perk, a well-known Adventist with a printing business in the city of Berlin, and asked him to print 1,000 copies.

Augusto’s missionary effort did not succeed within the Evangelical Association. Yet its brochures, which reached even Brazil, significantly spread the message.³ On April 1, 1893, Johannes Augusto Heinrich Pages and his wife were baptized and began attending the Adventist Church in Hamburg. The following year, he was elected elder of the Hamburg Church by Uriah Smith and Conradi.⁴ In 1896, his second daughter died at age four. Faced with this sadness, Pastor Heinrich Pages wrote a brochure titled “A Word to the Bereaved,” which was later edited by the Hamburg Publishing House.⁵

From 1898 onwards, he endeavored to not get another job in an alcoholic drink industry since such activity diverged from the biblical principles of the Adventist Church. Knowing this, Conradi offered him an opportunity to work in the Hamburg Publishing House. Pastor Heinrich Pages accepted the invitation and thus fulfilled his promise to work for God more directly. However, due to personal problems, in July 1900, after serving the Hamburg Publishing House for two years, he had to return to work for the drink industry.⁶

Work in Germany and With Brazilian Publishing

In the spring of 1903, Conradi once again invited Pastor Heinrich Pages to join the Adventist work. This time, he would serve as a representative of the German Hygiene Association in Friedensau. Although he was worried about this challenge, he accepted the proposal, believing the Lord would enable him. His job was to visit health professionals and show them the products made by the food institution.⁷ He held this position until his call to serve as an auditor at the Hamburg Publishing House, where he remained until 1904.⁸

In 1905, the administrative meetings of the General Conference Assembly were held in Friedensau, Möckern, presided by Pastor Arthur Daniells, the General Conference president, and Pastor Joseph W. Westphal, the South-American Union Mission superintendent. At that time, Pastor Heinrich Pages was chosen to be sent as a missionary to Brazil to direct the first Brazilian Adventist publishing house in the city of Taquari, State of Rio Grande do Sul.⁹

At that time, John Lipke, who had succeeded Guillerme Stein, Jr., in the administration of the college in Taquari, decided to go to the United States to collect funds for the establishment of the printing shop for the Brazilian branch of the International Treatise Society. After he made $1,500, he visited the Emmanuel Missionary College and noticed an unused press, which had been saved from a 1902 fire at the Review and Herald Publishing Association. He suggested that the press be donated to “a mission school in Brazil” and acquired the press and 15 type fonts, a paper cutting machine, and other printing utensils that had been ordered from Germany. John Lipke headed the new printing shop until Pastor Heinrich Pages’s arrival.¹⁰

Pastor Heinrich Pages soon made preparations for the move and, on October 5, embarked on the steamer Assuncion. On November 2, 1905, he arrived in Rio de Janeiro and was received by Pastor F. W. Spies.¹¹ In his early days, he inventoried all the materials¹² produced by William Henry Thurston, the first editor of the first Brazilian Adventist periodical, “O arauto da verdade.”¹³ About two weeks after his arrival, he moved to the city of Taquari, State of Rio Grande do Sul, with 19 boxes of books. There, he assumed the management of the printing shop, which would be named the Brazil Publishing House in 1915.¹⁴

Denominational Work

In February 1906, under J. W. Westphal’s presidency, a special session was held. In this session, the organization of the Rio Grande do Sul Conference was voted. At the time, Pastor Heinrich Pages was elected as secretary/treasurer of this field, which at the time had five churches and some groups.¹⁵ On April 15, 1906, the administrative committee of the Brazil Conference gathered in Taquari to name the first group of administrators of the Brazilian branch of the International Treatise Society, and Pastor Heinrich Pages was elected its president.¹⁶ That same year, he became secretary/treasurer of Taquari Adventist School,¹⁷ and, the following year, he was elected secretary/treasurer of the Seventh-day Adventist School Society of the State of Rio Grande do Sul.¹⁸

In 1907, the process of transferring the printing shop from the city of Taquari, State of Rio Grande do Sul, to a state with a better access location was started.¹⁹ After F. W. Spies found a good deal for a property in São Bernardo (now city of Santo André, State of São Paulo), they moved to this new place on October 10, 1907.²⁰ Pastor Heinrich Pages was also responsible for the bookkeeping of all the missions of the Adventist Church in Brazil. He exercised that responsibility for 10 years.²¹

Pastor Heinrich Pages also worked as an editor for the Rundschau der Adventisten journal from 1908-1922.²² That same year, with the formation of a Brazilian executive committee, the process of territorial reorganization by linguistic criteria was started in the South American Division. In December 1910, the Brazilian Union Conference was organized,²³ and Pastor Heinrich Pages was voted as its first secretary/treasurer, a position he held until 1919.²⁴ Between 1911 and 1918, he also worked as the publishing house’s manager in Santo André, State of São Paulo²⁵ and secretary/treasurer of the São Paulo Mission, remaining its treasurer until 1919.²⁶

Besides Pastor Heinrich Pages’s responsibilities with the Brazilian Union Conference and the São Paulo Mission, he was the manager of the Brazil Publishing House until 1921, when R. Gray assumed management.²⁷ While Gray worked as manager, Pastor Heinrich Pages assumed the position of institution treasurer from 1916-1920²⁸ and from 1923-1938.²⁹

Retirement and Legacy

Pastor Johannes Augusto Heinrich Pages retired at age 76 in 1941. He died on April 4, 1946, and was buried in the Cemitério Redentor in the State of São Paulo. Pastors Rodolfo Belz, Germano Ritter, Luiz Braun, Emílio Doehnert, and Luiz Waldvogel officiated the funeral ceremony.³⁰

Pastor Johannes Augusto Heinrich Pages made a significant contribution as a pioneer of publications in Brazil and as the first manager appointed to administer the Brazilian branch of the International Treatise Society (now Brazilian Publishing House). Pastor Heinrich Pages also contributed as an administrator for the formation of the Brazilian Union Conference as its first secretary/treasurer.

Sources

“Augusto Pages.” Revista Adventista. May 1946. Accessed May 29, 2018. http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br.

“Casa Publicadora Brasileira 174.” Monography. São Paulo: Brazil Adventist University, 1987.

Greenleaf, Floyd. A Land of Hope: The Growth of the SDA Church in South America. Tatuí, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 2011.

Lessa, Rubens S. Casa Publicadora Brasileira 100 anos. Tatuí, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 2000.

Pages, Augusto. “Attenção!” Revista Trimensal. March 1907. Accessed May 29, 2018. http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br.

Pages, Augusto. “Minha vida.” Revista Adventista. June 1946. Accessed May 29, 2018. http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Various years. https://www.adventistyearbook.org/.

Westphal, J. W. “A Conferência do Estado Rio Grande do Sul.” Revista Trimensal. July 1906. Accessed May 29, 2018. http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br.

Notes

1. Rubens S. Lessa, Casa Publicadora Brasileira 100 anos (Tatuí, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 2000), 52.↩

2. Augusto Pages, “Minha vida,” Revista Adventista, June 1946, accessed May 29, 2018, http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br.↩

3. Ibid.↩

4. Ibid.↩

5. Ibid.↩

6. Ibid.↩

7. Ibid.↩

8. Ibid.; and Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, “Hamburg Publishing House,” accessed May 29, 2018, http://docs.adventistarchives.org/docs/YB/YB1905__B.pdf#view=fit.↩

9. Augusto Pages, “Minha vida,” Revista Adventista, June 1946, accessed May 29, 2018, http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br.; Lessa, 52.; Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, “General Conference,” accessed May 29, 2018, http://docs.adventistarchives.org/docs/YB/YB1906__B.pdf#view=fit.; and Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, “South American Union Mission,” accessed May 29, 2018, http://docs.adventistarchives.org/docs/YB/YB1906__B.pdf#view=fit.↩

10. Lessa, 51-52.↩

11. Augusto Pages, “Minha vida,” Revista Adventista, June 1946, accessed May 29, 2018, http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br.↩

12. Ibid.; and Lessa, 52.↩

13. “Casa Publicadora Brasileira 174,” Monography, São Paulo: Brazil Adventist University, 1987, 3.↩

14. Augusto Pages, “Minha vida,” Revista Adventista, June 1946, accessed May 29, 2018, http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br.; and “Casa Publicadora Brasileira 174,” Monography, São Paulo: Brazil Adventist University, 1987, 1, 4.↩

15. J. W. Westphal, “A Conferência do Estado Rio Grande do Sul,” Revista Trimensal, July 1906, accessed May 29, 2018, http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br.↩

16. “Casa Publicadora Brasileira 174,” Monography, São Paulo: Brazil Adventist University, 1987, 17.↩

17. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, “Taquary Publishing House,” accessed May 29, 2018, http://docs.adventistarchives.org/docs/YB/YB1907__B.pdf#view=fit.↩

18. Augusto Pages, “Attenção!” Revista Trimensal, March 1907, accessed May 29, 2018, http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br.↩

19. Augusto Pages, “Minha vida,” Revista Adventista, June 1946, accessed May 29, 2018, http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br.↩

20. Lessa, 60-61.↩

21. Augusto Pages, “Minha vida,” Revista Adventista, June 1946, accessed May 29, 2018, http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br.↩

22. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, “Brazil Publishing House,” accessed May 29, 2018, http://docs.adventistarchives.org/docs/YB/YB1909__B.pdf#view=fit.; and Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, “Brazil Publishing House,” accessed May 29, 2018, http://docs.adventistarchives.org/docs/YB/YB1923__B.pdf#view=fit.↩

23. Floyd Greenleaf, A Land of Hope: The Growth of the SDA Church in South America (Tatuí, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 2011), 103.↩

24. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, “Brazilian Union Conference,” accessed May 29, 2018, http://docs.adventistarchives.org/docs/YB/YB1911__B.pdf#view=fit.; and Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, “Brazilian Union Conference,” accessed May 29, 2018, http://docs.adventistarchives.org/docs/YB/YB1920__B.pdf#view=fit.↩

25. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, “Sao Paulo Mission,” accessed May 29, 2018, http://docs.adventistarchives.org/docs/YB/YB1912__B.pdf#view=fit.; Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, “Sao Paulo Mission,” accessed May 29, 2018, http://docs.adventistarchives.org/docs/YB/YB1919__B.pdf#view=fit.↩

26. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, “Sao Paulo Mission,” accessed May 29, 2018, http://docs.adventistarchives.org/docs/YB/YB1920__B.pdf#view=fit.↩

27. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, “Taquary Publishing House,” accessed May 29, 2018, http://docs.adventistarchives.org/docs/YB/YB1907__B.pdf#view=fit.; Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, “Brazil Publishing House,” accessed May 29, 2018, http://docs.adventistarchives.org/docs/YB/YB1922__B.pdf#view=fit.; and “Casa Publicadora Brasileira 174,” Monography, São Paulo: Brazil Adventist University, 1987, 18.↩

28. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, “Brazil Publishing House,” accessed May 29, 2018, http://docs.adventistarchives.org/docs/YB/YB1917__B.pdf#view=fit.; and Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, “Brazil Publishing House,” accessed May 29, 2018, http://docs.adventistarchives.org/docs/YB/YB1921__B.pdf#view=fit.↩

29. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, “Brazil Publishing House,” accessed May 29, 2018, http://docs.adventistarchives.org/docs/YB/YB1924__B.pdf#view=fit.; and Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, “Brazil Publishing House,” accessed May 29, 2018, http://docs.adventistarchives.org/docs/YB/YB1939__B.pdf#view=fit.↩

30. “Augusto Pages,” Revista Adventista, May 1946, accessed May 29, 2018, http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br.↩