Statue Father Eustachius

Huub van Lieshout (1890-1943), a farmer's son from Aarle-Rixtel, better known as Father Eustachius van Lieshout, became a priest in the congregation of the Sacred Hearts. From 1925 till his death he worked as a missionary in Brazil. His aim was to be a missionary among the sick and those in pain and sorrow and for all those who were looking for health and peace. This work became so well known that in the years of his life, thousands of people came to visit him to receive from him a sense of health and peace so that their lives would be worthwhile again. After his death, he was honoured en masse in many villages and cities, which led to his beatification by the Pope in Rome on 15 June 2006. The feast was celebrated in a football stadium in Belo Horizonte where as many as 1200 buses arrived from all over the country and to this day his fame is still of great significance for many Brazilians.

But in his native village Aarle-Rixtel there was no statue yet, while the memory of Father Eustachius should not be forgotten, thought his cousins Jan and Will van den Boomen, together with the association 'Friends of Eustachius'. They have now ensured that on the church square in Aarle-Rixtel there is a permanent reminder of Father Eustachius. The statue was designed and made by artist Edu Santos living in Piracicaba, Brazil. In 2009, he also realised a bronze statue at the Eustachius Church in Belo Horizonte.

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