Andrew de Soveral and 29 companions

The first massacre took place on July 16, 1645, in the chapel of Nossa Senhora das Candeias (Our Lady of the Candles), at the Engenho Cunhaú, in the current municipality of Canguaretama. While the parish priest André de Soveral was celebrating Sunday Mass before an assembly of the faithful, a troop of Dutch soldiers, accompanied by Potiguar natives, burst into the holy place and massacred the unarmed congregation, including the priest, who died while reciting the prayers for the dying. The second massacre occurred on October 3, 1645, on the banks of the Uruaçu River. A group of faithful from Natal, led by the parish priest Ambrósio Francisco Ferro, was lured under false promises and then executed; the priest and about thirty people, among whom were relatives of Ferro, were put to death there with great cruelty. It was during this episode that the layman Mateus Moreira, his heart torn out according to tradition, is said to have expired while proclaiming his faith in the Eucharist aloud. These two events made this group the first recognized martyrs of Brazil, for this reason called the "protomartyrs of Brazil."

The religious motive for martyrdom is at the heart of their cause: the victims were put to death in hatred of the Catholic faith (in odium fidei), in a context where the Dutch occupier forbade the Mass and intended to impose Calvinism. The two priests fell in the very exercise of their ministry, one while celebrating the Eucharist, the other while accompanying his parishioners. The reported gesture of the layman Mateus Moreira concentrates the spirituality of the group: according to the sources of the cause, expiring under the blows, he cried out "Louvado seja o Santíssimo Sacramento" ("Praised be the Most Holy Sacrament"), affirming until the end the Eucharistic faith precisely denied by the persecutors. The fidelity of these simple parishioners, who did not abjure despite the threat, was held as an exemplary testimony. Their reputation as martyrs took root very early in the memory of the local Church of Rio Grande do Norte, which venerated them as intercessors even before Roman recognition.

The group was beatified by Pope John Paul II on March 5, 2000, in Saint Peter's Square, under the title of André de Soveral, Ambrósio Francisco Ferro, and companion martyrs. The cause subsequently led to canonization: Pope Francis approved the decree on March 23, 2017, dispensing with the requirement of a miracle, in accordance with the procedure applicable to ancient martyrs. The date was formalized during a consistory on April 20, 2017. The group was canonized on October 15, 2017, in Saint Peter's Square, during a celebration in which Pope Francis also inscribed other figures into the catalogue of saints, among whom were the child martyrs of Tlaxcala (Mexico). In accordance with the collective nature of the martyrdom, no miracle was required for the canonization. The liturgical feast of Saints André de Soveral, Ambrósio Francisco Ferro, Mateus Moreira, and companions is celebrated on October 3, the date of the Uruaçu massacre, which was chosen for the entire group.

Recognized as the protomartyrs of Brazil, André de Soveral, Ambrósio Francisco Ferro, Mateus Moreira, and their companions occupy a unique place in the country's religious history: they represent the first group of martyrs born or who died on Brazilian soil to be raised to the altars. Their cult is particularly vibrant in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, where they are venerated as spiritual patrons, and in the dioceses of the region where their memory is celebrated every October 3rd. The sites of the two massacres, Cunhaú (Canguaretama) and Uruaçu, have become points of reference for local devotion and pilgrimage. The figure of the layman Mateus Moreira, who died praising the Blessed Sacrament, is the object of specific attention, particularly in communities where he is honored as the patron of Eucharistic ministers. Through them, the Church of Brazil recognizes the roots of its own faith in the blood shed in the 17th century during the Dutch occupation of the Nordeste.