According to police accounts, Father Taddeo Gabrieli was returning by car to his monastery at 9:30 p.m. when he saw a man riding a bicycle fall on the road, obviously drunk.
The missionary stopped to help the man, but for unknown reasons the man knifed the priest twice. Father Gabrieli walked some 300 feet towards his monastery but died from the loss of blood.
A missionary for 50 years in Eritrea, Father Gabrieli arrived in Brazil in 1961 to work in Imperatriz, in the state of Maranhao.
He was involved in the spiritual care and integral human development of the rural workers. He also spent much time rescuing young people from drug addiction.
