Brazilian Actress Survived Rape, Kidnapping, and Losses
Lenita Medianeira Medina Schimitt, known as Lenita Medina, shared a harrowing testimony of life's traumas and the path of conversion that led her to a Croatian shrine.
Lenita Medianeira Medina Schimitt, known as Lenita Medina, shared a harrowing testimony of life's traumas and the path of conversion that led her to a Croatian shrine.
The life story of Brazilian actress Lenita Medianeira Medina Schimitt, better known by her stage name Lenita Medina, is a testament to deep wounds and the strength of faith that ultimately brought her to Medjugorje. Her conversion and journey to the Croatian Marian shrine, which she recounted for Radio Mir Medjugorje, was marked by a series of dramatic events: from a suicide attempt in her youth, through rape and kidnapping, to the loss of six children and her brother's suicide.
Lenita was not a planned child, and her mother gave birth to her alone at home. Fearing for the newborn's life, she looked at an image of Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Graces, and uttered a prayer that would define Lenita's life: "Virgin Mary, save this child. I entrust her to You." She grew up in a Catholic family in Brazil where the rosary was prayed daily, and by age 15, she had become a catechist. Yet, despite an active church life, at 16 she began to feel a deep emptiness that led her to attempt suicide. "I have never said this publicly before. This is my liberation," she admitted.
Studying forestry and working in theater opened doors to television, film, and journalism. She moved to Rio de Janeiro and tasted fame, but her inner turmoil did not subside. "I realized that fatigue doesn't always come from too much work. Sometimes fatigue comes from a lack of meaning," she said. At the height of her career, she suffered a severe car accident in which she fractured a cervical vertebra and temporarily lost her memory. Doctors feared she would remain immobile, but she fully recovered without lasting effects.
While preparing to move to Los Angeles and Hollywood, Lenita prayed a novena to Saint Anthony with a seemingly impossible intention: "Saint Anthony, if it is not God's will for me to leave Brazil, show me the man with whom I will start my family." Just three weeks later, she met Rodrigo, who told her on their first date: "You're not going. You are the woman of my life." Rodrigo, who grew up without a religious upbringing, later received his First Communion and Confirmation, with Lenita as his confirmation sponsor. She now jokingly tells him, "Listen to your godmother!"
The couple desperately wanted children, but a series of miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy followed, during which Lenita nearly bled to death. "Today, my husband and I have six children in heaven," she said. In search of a solution, they turned to a renowned fertility specialist who, using sedatives, raped her at least twice. She carried this secret for five years, leading to the development of a panic disorder. The doctor was later sentenced to 173 years in prison after 400 women reported him, and it was established that over 40 years of practice, he had sexually abused a total of 800 women.
In her own home, Lenita was kidnapped by five armed men. They stripped her of all her jewelry but failed to notice the Miraculous Medal that remained around her neck. When she tried to escape, one of the kidnappers pressed a gun to her head and pulled the trigger, but the bullet did not leave the barrel. The gun jammed. She managed to convince them to let her out of the car due to numerous police checkpoints, and so she survived. After that, another tragedy followed: her brother, battling severe depression, took his own life. For a long time after the kidnapping, nightmares haunted her, but she kept moving forward.
It was during this period of complete brokenness that Medjugorje entered her life. Her connection to the Croatian shrine had begun much earlier: her mother had for years received newsletters by mail with news and messages from Medjugorje, which Lenita, as a teenager, had carefully read, trying to imagine the visionaries, the war, and the suffering. "I no longer had the strength to handle things on my own, and I finally began to surrender to God," she testified. She worked in the Church in the ministry of healing and liberation, and her message to young people was: "Do not underestimate what you have received from your parents and grandparents. Family is the true heritage. And faith is heritage."
A television director once told her: "Lenita, we really like you, but your presence on set makes us uncomfortable. You're married, you're a believer, and you're just too... proper."
Her testimony was published by Radio Mir Medjugorje and carried by the portal Bitno.net.
