OUR LADY APPEARED BRAZIL

Feast: October 12th

It is the year 1716 when, in the Paraiba River, three fishermen were trying to make a living but could not catch any fish. It was then that they lifted from the waters with their nets a beautiful terracotta figure of Our Lady of the Conception. Once the image was placed in their canoe, the catch was so abundant that the men returned to port filled with fear, because their fragile boat seemed to sink, unable to support the enormous weight of the catch.

It is not known how the small image of only 36 centimeters ended up in the river, but its author is known, Frei Agostino de Jesus, a Carioca monk from Sao Paulo who worked the clay with art and refinement. The image, which was molded around 1650, remained submerged in the Paraíba for many years, until it lost its original polychrome and became a shiny dark brown color.

The dark-haired Virgin is presented to the veneration of the faithful covered by a rigid mantle of thick, richly embroidered fabrics, which only allows to see her face and hands, which she unites on her chest in continuous prayer. She wears the imperial crown, of gold and precious stones, with which she was crowned Queen of Brazil by Pope Pius X in 1904.

Pius XII proclaimed her the main patroness of Brazil in 1930 and the day of her feast, October 12, has been declared a national holiday.John Paul II visited the Virgin Aparecida in her sanctuary, granting her the title of Basilica. A few days before, an individual threw the image to the ground, breaking it into many pieces. In this way he wanted to stop the joy of the expected celebration. But the love and the careful work of several artists and experts managed to reconstruct it perfectly and the Virgin Aparecida returned to her niche in the basilica in the middle of the enormous crowd that acclaimed her as the mother of Brazil. Hatred will never win over the love of the Mother of God who never abandons her children.

John Paul II, on the occasion of the centenary of the coronation of Our Lady Aparecida, 2004, wrote that "this patronage of Mary over a nation is not possible without the cooperation of her protégés, but presupposes their free consent, which is renewed every day; it presupposes that they make themselves worthy of it, incarnated in a life commitment inspired by the deep and solid certainties of faith".

Addressing the bishops in particular, the Pope underlines the importance of "assuming with a true pastoral spirit the very ancient Marian devotion of your people. (...) For this devotion to be a path to an encounter, in faith, with God in Jesus Christ, depends very much on the example of pastors and pastoral workers."

"Help the faithful, therefore, to live their Marian devotion as a clear and courageous witness of love for Christ, which manifests the personal and communitarian identity of Catholics, against the danger of secularism and consumerism, and at the same time, favors in families the practice of Christian virtues. In the same way, this devotion will help to consolidate the bonds of communion with the pastors of the Church of Christ, confronting the disintegration of the faith, so often encouraged by the proselytism of sects".