[1] Today, more than 3,000 people arrive every day at this same site (where the Santo Antônio Hospital now stands) to receive free medical treatment.

At the time of her death in 1992, Pontes had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize,[2][3] she had received two personal audiences with Pope John Paul II, and she had, almost single-handedly, created one of the largest and most respected philanthropic organizations in Brazil.

He agreed and she joined the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God, in Our Lady of Carmel Convent, in Sergipe.

Later, when she and her patients were evicted from the neighborhood, she started housing them in an old fish market, but City Hall denied her the use of the space and told her to leave.

That improvised hostel gave rise to the Hospital Santo Antonio, the center of a medical, social and educational complex which continues to open doors for the poor in Bahia and throughout Brazil.

Pontes's work impressed the President of Brazil, José Sarney, who in 1988 nominated her for the Nobel Peace Prize, with support of Queen Silvia of Sweden.

OSID also established CESA (Santo Antônio Educational Center), a school for the poor in Simões Filho, one of the most impoverished cities in the Metropolitan Area of Salvador and in the State of Bahia.

After being hospitalized for 16 months, Pontes died on 13 March 1992, at the age of 77, in Santo Antônio's Convent, and she was buried at the Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception.

On 9 June 2010, Pontes was finally buried at the Imaculada Conceição da Madre de Deus church, in Salvador, Bahia.

[11] Pontes received the title Servant of God under Pope John Paul II with the beginning of the cause for her beatification in January 2000 under the Archbishop of Salvador da Bahia and Primate of Brazil, Geraldo Majella Agnelo, who examined her heroic virtues, fame of sainthood and the tireless determination of a life dedicated to the needy.

On 10 May 2007, in a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to Brazil, the Governor of São Paulo and former Presidential candidate José Serra said he would send a letter to the Holy See in favor of Pontes's beatification.

On 27 October 2010, the Archbishop of Salvador announced that the Congregation for the Causes of Saints had recognized a miracle attributed to her intercession, paving the way for her to be beatified.

The Mass was presided over by the Archbishop of Salvador and the Primate of Brazil, Cardinal Geraldo Majella Agnelo, who conducted the beatification by mandate of Pope Benedict XVI; the service was attended by about 70,000 people.