DaytonDailyNews.com

BOA ESPERANCA, Brazil — Early on the morning of Feb. 12, 2005, Felicio Pontes checks in with his dear friend, Sister Dorothy Stang.

Pontes, a federal prosecutor, calls Stang before 7 a.m. because he's worried about her. He knows her name is on the "lista de mortes"— the death list — because of her environmental activism. And he knows the families of nine peasant farmers have recently been burned out of their homes.

Pontes pleads with Stang not to go to a farmers' meeting that morning to discuss rebuilding on land wealthy ranchers are claiming as their own: "It's too dangerous."

Stang responds with the nervous half-giggle. "Don't worry, Felicio," she assures him, "I'm not going to fight anyone. I don't know how to fight."

Of course, nobody who ever knew the Dayton-born Stang ever questioned her willingness to fight for what she believed in. She has been called the first martyr in the 175-year history of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk — a man not given to overstatement — said these words when he presided over her memorial service in Cincinnati: "I have many times celebrated Masses for martyrs who died centuries ago. Today we are celebrating a martyr whose blood is still wet."

Pilarczyk believes canonization for Stang is worth exploring, and he has held informal conversations with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur about that very possibility. If canonized, Stang would become only the third American-born saint in the history of the Catholic Church.

"Don't let the people down," Stang urges Felicio on the morning of her last day on earth. "Don't ever give up, don't ever give up, don't ever give up."

Looking back, Pontes says, "It's clear she knew she was going to die."