A guided visio divina prayer with the Our Lady of Aparecida, patroness of Brazil.
Pray the rosary with your family, group or at home and use our resources to guide your reflections.
A guided visio divina prayer with the Our Lady of Aparecida, patroness of Brazil.
Pray the rosary with your family, group or at home and use our resources to guide your reflections.
A statue of Our Lady of Aparecida (Sidney de Almeida)
The devotion to Our Lady of Aparecida began over 300 years ago in Brazil.
On 12 October 1717, three fishermen, Domingos Garcia, Filipe Pedroso, and João Alves, were struggling to catch fish. While pulling in their nets at the end of a long day, they realised that, while they had no fish, they had caught a statue broken at the neck. João lowered his net another time, and this time he brought up the statue’s missing head, revealing that it was a smiling image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The small statue made of terracotta clay, had been submerged in river mud for years and so turned a deep, dark brown. Immediately the nets of the fishermen overflowed. A miracle!
Taking the statue home, it was repaired, though the crack remained visible around the neck. News of the discovery spread, and many came to pray and honour Mary, under the name the "Aparecida" or the one who appeared.
Due to the large crowds, a small chapel was built, which eventually became the large shrine which today is the second largest basilica in the world, behind only St. Peter’s in Rome. In 1930, Pope Pius XI declared Our Lady of Aparecida the Patroness of Brazil.