Revered in Portugal for his apostolic fervor and charity, he visited prisons and hospitals in every city, gave alms to the poor and ministered spiritually to all, achieving a great reputation for sanctity.

[1] Cruz was the first priest to openly preach devotion to Our Lady of Fátima, at a time when most of the Portuguese clergy was still uneasy to show any sentiments favourable to the apparitions;[2] this was before the Bishop of Leiria, José Alves Correia da Silva, recognised them as worthy of belief in 1930.

[4] The baptismal rites were only concluded on the next 25 February, in the Parish Church of Saint John the Baptist, when Manuel Teixeira Salgueiro anointed him with the oil of catechumens and pronounced the exorcism.

In 1886 he was invited instead to direct the College of Saint Cajetan (Colégio de São Caetano), an orphan school in Braga; for similar reasons he asked to be replaced in this position by the Salesian Fathers in 1894.

[6] In 1925, Cardinal-Patriarch António Mendes Belo (who had selected Cruz as his confessor), wished to appoint him a canon of the Patriarchal Cathedral; Cruz's reply came in a letter, thanking Belo and the Cathedral Chapter for the honour and — while ultimately expressing a submission to the Cardinal's will — telling him that he felt it was the Lord's wish that he continued to minister to the wretched all around Portugal, spiritually helping "the sick, the imprisoned in the jails, the poor and abandoned, and all those sinners and forsaken souls that Our Lord sends my way".

[6] Cruz is credited with the conversions of notable people in Portuguese society, such as the philosopher Leonardo Coimbra (1883–1936), Councillor Luís de Magalhães (1859–1935), and leading syndicalist activist Manuel Ribeiro (1878–1941).

[6] His funeral was held at Lisbon Cathedral, presided by Cardinal-Patriarch Manuel Gonçalves Cerejeira, who said in his sermon: "The blessed Father Cruz will remain one of the purest glories of our patriarchate.